Mayumi Aikawa − Everything Flows (or Crashes)

Today would be a nice day to eat lunch outside, thought Mayumi as she walked through the school building with her friends. After arriving at the school alongside Shirou, she had made her way to the student council room to say high to her senior, the student council president Aurelia Gotou, but most people at the school just called her Lia. With Lia in the student council president was the cool and intelligent treasurer Satomi as well as the mature and gentle vice president Yuko. 

"Good morning, Mayumi," said Lia, "I hope you had a good night's sleep. There's many things the student council will have to go through in our meeting today. I hope you're up to the task."
"Good morning, Lia," replied Mayumi with a slight head bow, "There's nothing to worry about. I'm fully recharged and ready for the meeting after school."
Lia nodded at her, "Good. Your work as council secretary has been invaluable this year. I hope you continue to keep up the excellent work."
"Of course," responded Mayumi before adding, "I'll do my best to follow your excellent example, president."
Lia smiled before turning back to her computer to finish typing something. After finishing, she stood up and put her computer away in her bag before looking up at the clock on the wall.
"You two should to class; the bell will ring soon," said Lia as she finished closing her bag.
"Let's head to our classroom as well, Yuko."
Yuko stood up and joined Lia by her side, "Of course, Lia." As the two walked away, Yuko turned around and gave Mayumi and Satomi a little wave,
"Have a nice day girls," she said before exiting the room with Lia.
Mayumi waited as Satomi finished packing up and together they walked out of the council office and towards their classroom. 

While walking over to their room, Mayumi couldn't help but notice how many students watched her and Satomi and they walked through the hallways. When she walked by with her friends, people usually slowed down or stopped to whisper something. She had heard a variety of things come from the various students: ranging from a strange sense of peer reverence to statements of jealousy. She had been off put by the statements when they first started being directed at her, but had come to ignore them for her own sake. It helped that Satomi was much more use to such attention and had helped Mayumi come to terms with the social status she had gained at the school. When it came to not showing any signs of concern, Satomi was far more experienced. When she first met her, she was surprised at how cold Satomi could be. Of course, during their time together at the student council, they were slowly able to become friends. Behind the cold, calculative demeanor Satomi gave off, Mayumi found a strong sense of care for her friends. Nowadays, their daily school day always started with Mayumi coming to pick Satomi up from the student council office in the morning and walking together to class before the first bell.
As they got closer to the classroom, another girl came up to them. She was of similar age to Mayumi and Satomi, but much more clearly full of energy. As she walked up to Mayumi she turned to her and smiled while they walked, to which Mayumi offered back one of her own.
"Good morning Mayumi, how are you?" asked the girl, now keeping pace with the two of them.
"I'm doing well, Hoshi. How are you?" replied Mayumi, giving her attention to Hoshi.
"Oh I'm fine, just a bit tired. My dad just called me this morning about some boring meeting with the son of one of the company's board members," Hoshi explained while pulling her face back with her fingers to exaggerate her supposed tiredness.
Mayumi let out a little chuckle as Hoshi turned her attention to Satomi,
"Oh, I'm sorry Satomi," said Hoshi as she moved closer to Satomi, "I didn't ask you how you were right? That must have made you feel lonely."
As Hoshi talked to Satomi, Mayumi could see she was reacting ever so slightly. To most people, they would have a hard time recognizing any emotion Satomi expressed, but both Mayumi and Hoshi could see through her cold exterior and recognize how she really felt.
"Not particularly," replied Satomi as she tried to slightly move away from Hoshi. Not many people besides Mayumi and Hoshi would have even seen the slight redness around Satomi's ears. Most people would have been to distracted by her face's lack of emotiveness. 
"Whatever you say, bestie," said Hoshi as she gave Satomi her space. While Hoshi was generally more energetic than either Mayumi or Satomi, she was by no means oblivious or insensitive to her friends. It was that ability to instantly get how people were really feeling that allowed her to so easily enter and thrive in conversation.

While engaged in conversation, the three students entered their classroom. As Mayumi walked in through the door, she spotted him in the back seat. Shirou, sitting all by himself in the back corner waiting for his friend. As the three girls sat down, Mayumi stole some glances at Shirou. He always  looked a bit out of place when he was by himself. As if he was out of tune with the rest of the world around him. Eventually, she turned back to her friends.
"I don't understand why you're so interested in that boy. There seems to be nothing particularly interesting about him," said Satomi, having observed Mayumi obviously looking at him.
"Totally," added Hoshi, "I remember when I asked him about what you were to each other, he totally ignored my question and asked why I was asking him. He even asked me if I was threatening him. He has no tact." recalled Hoshi, obviously a bit annoyed by said past encounter. Mayumi laughed a little at the story, that was just like Shirou. So unresponsive to any social ques when talking to people that one could easily be mistaken that he doesn't see them. But she knew he could. It was obvious whenever they talked on their way to school. If anything, she was more confounded about why he seemed so consciously selective of when to care about social conventions and cues. 
She remembered when Hoshi had first asked her about Shirou. She assumed nothing of it before realizing that Hoshi had come up with some strange idea that maybe Shirou was blackmailing her to hang out with him on the way to school. A ridiculous idea, but there were quite a few of those before people just accepted and slowly forgot that Mayumi liked to walk with Shirou to school. It was the first time Mayumi had realized that there was such a large divide between how a lot people saw someone like her and someone like him. Of course, she put those rumors to bed among her friends, but she never knew if they were still circulating to this day. She considered asking Shirou, but it didn't seem like she minded much.

She put her thoughts of Shirou away as she continued to converse with Satomi and Hoshi. Most of their mornings were spent talking about the same things. Hoshi spent the time mostly venting to Satomi and Mayumi about the constant pressure her father put on her to marry someone. He was the CEO of some business in the city and apparently wished her to marry someone of high class to maintain good connections within the company. She personally found the idea insulting but had very little power in actually stopping her father with going through with his plans for her. The most she could do was use her natural charisma to try and convince her father that high school was to young for marriage. It had gotten her another two years from her father, but he was apparently immovable in his desire to at the latest, have her marry after her graduation. Mayumi and Satomi had offered ideas and help to little avail. They all hoped that they could figure out something in the next year or so to figure out a way to free Hoshi from her father's plans. But nothing they came up with was plausible or had a high chance of working. It got to the point where Hoshi had once jokingly brought up the idea of running away, something that Satomi and Mayumi were worrying was slowly becoming less and less of a joke.
"At this point... I don't know. It just seems like the only option that could actually get me away from him," said Hoshi. Mayumi and Satomi looked at each other before turning back to Hoshi.
"I understand that you really don't want to be married off by your father, but running away is a massive risk and their would be no assurance that all your problems would disappear if you ran away suddenly after graduation. Not to mention the resources your father has available to finding you" added Satomi. She was always the voice of calm reason whenever Hoshi brought the idea up, but reason could only go so far when desperation would slowly get stronger and stronger.
"She's right," Mayumi added, "Besides... running away isn't a real solution. It's just ignoring your problems and trying to but distance between you and them. Are you sure that he won't change his mind if he just knew."
Hoshi, who had been smiling their entire walk to class, put on a serious face, 
"Him, change his mind? Please." she answered, "I could tell him that I never wanted to marry and he'd probably still force me to do it. Besides..." She paused before turning her head to quickly scan the students around them in class. Some of them were watching them, which was too be expected, but most of them weren't even looking and none of them were paying attention to what they were actually saying.
"I have no idea how he would react if I told him that I don't want to marry a man," she whispered, "For all I know, he could either disown me for liking girls or not care and still force me to marry some gross, old man. Hell, it could be both." 
Mayumi and Satomi paused. They had known for a while that Hoshi was gay. Satomi had once accidentally caught her and her (now ex-) girlfriend making out in the gym storage unit. She was horrified when they had found out, but were relieved that they accepted her and were willing to keep her secret. They didn't think much of the student body would mind but, they couldn't risk the information spreading from the student body to the teachers and then to her father.
Mayumi reached out and put her hand on Hoshi's, 
"Don't worry. We'll figure this out. There's still time for us to find a solution. We're here for you. I promise," she said to Hoshi, reassuring her. Hoshi looked up to Mayumi before turning to Satomi who gave her an earnest nod. She smiled before straightened he posture and trying to put on her best smile.
"Let's change the subject," she said, "Satomi, how have you been doing? I heard you've been working extra hard to keep up your rankings."
Satomi sighed before answering, "Yes, I've been trying to keep the top rank in the grade, but a couple student's have been trying their best to take my spot. It's such a pain, especially since I'm also having to concern myself with preparing for the entrance exam." 
Mayumi smiled at Satomi. She was probably the smartest student in their grade and was committed to keeping that prestige for the sake of her college entrance process.
"Well, if I know anything about you, it's that your too smart and too stubborn to hand over your spot to anyone," said Hoshi as she smiled. Satomi looked at Hoshi, her calm expression breaking ever so slightly,
"Did you have to also call me stubborn? I would have much preferred it if you had ended it at the compliment," added Satomi. Mayumi let out a little laugh as Hoshi started to reply,
"I think being stubborn can be considered a compliment, right Mayumi," she asked, turning to Mayumi. Mayumi stopped laughing and put a finger to her chin in response. 
"I don't know if 'stubborn' is something I would consider a compliment. Maybe 'determined' or 'adamant', but not 'stubborn'," she replied, holding in another laugh.
"Hmmm, I agree," said Satomi as she turned to Hoshi in an almost mechanical way, "I suppose I'll have to think of an appropriate punishment for said insult."
Hoshi face turned slightly pale, "c'mon. It was just a joke ya' know. I was trying to compliment you."
"I know," answered Satomi, "I was also just joking, ya' know." Satomi finished her sentence looking just as calm as she had while she was pretending to be angry. Mayumi thought she had spotted the slightest smirk on her face but was to distracted by Hoshi as she let out an almost comical sigh. After she had finished laughing, Hoshi turned to Mayumi.
"What about you? How's the acting thing gone?" asked Hoshi. Mayumi tried giving a smile that hid some of the disappointment she felt in relation to the topic.
"I sent in another audition tape last Saturday," answered Mayumi, "but I just got sent back a rejection letter." Hoshi clicked her tongue, 
"That sucks. You've been working so hard too," she said to Mayumi, "Don't worry. I'm sure some casting director will see how stupid they are and hire you for a big starring role."
Mayumi smiled at her friend's support, "That's the dream." 
Mayumi remembered when she first wanted to become an actor. She couldn't have seen herself wanting such a job when she was younger, but she saw it as a chance to make something goof out of her life. To use her performances to encourage people to work through their struggles and not run away from them. Perhaps there was some lingering regret about that night on the playground five years ago. It could have been that. Maybe it was the warmth she had felt as a child watching the actors on American children's programming and how much they encouraged children to work through and overcome their problems without invalidating how they felt. That desire to offer help to people who needed it, that's what drove her to try again and again, despite the multiple rejections she had accumulated up to this point.

Eventually, their conversation was cut short as Miss Fujiwara walked into the room to start homeroom. After receiving the form she had filled out her freshman year about her future, she put it in her bag without even looking at it. After all, she never forgot what she had written down.

"I want to help people, anyway I can."

In the year or so that had passed since she submitted the assignment, she had found the way she could, her calling so to speak. She was fully committed to becoming an actress. Not for the fame or the money, but because, in her mind, it was the best way for her to reach and offer support to as many people as possible.

After their morning classes had finished. Mayumi, Hoshi and Satomi headed to the Student Council office to eat their lunches together. When they entered the room, they saw that Lia and Yuko had gotten there ahead of them and were already eating lunch with Ana. Ana was a half Brazilian girl who had transferred to Shin Shiten to study Japanese martial arts. She already had an extensive background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing and spent most of her time studying Judo and Karate with the marital arts teams. During her outside of practice and competition matches, she also acted as the student council's disciplinary officer, not like she needed to do much most of the time. Conflicts between students were rare and there were hardly ever any fights at the school. The three girls sat down at the table next to Ana and started to talk while they ate their lunches. Lia and Yuko finished their lunches rather quickly and left the student council room before the lunch period was over, leaving the others. They probably had some work they wanted to do before their next classes, Mayumi thought.

While drinking her tea, Ana turned to Mayumi with a crafty smile.
"So," started Ana as she turned to Mayumi, "Have you asked that Shirou boy out yet?"
Mayumi, caught off by the question, spit out her tea onto the table in front of her. She immediately pulled out a handkerchief from her bad and wiped her mouth before trying to clean up the tea that had gotten on the table.
"Don't be ridiculous," she replied as a blush slowly grew across her face, "I don't think of Shirou like that at all. Definitely not"
"Ha, right," said Ana, "you walk with him to school every morning because your just "good friends"? If someone walked together to school everyday back home, everyone would assume they were already dating.
"Come now Ana, don't tease her," added Satomi, "You know she get's flustered easily with teasing."
"Yeah, but it's kinda cute," interjected Hoshi as she helped clean up the rest of the tea.
"I am not flustered," stated Mayumi as she put away her handkerchief, "Besides, I don't think he sees me that way."
"You sure?" Ana asked with a look of suspicion, "Cus it seems to me like he can be pretty rude to everyone but that group of friends he's always around, with the exception of you. I've never seen him talk to you the way he talks to anyone else." Mayumi rolled her eyes at Ana's observation as she closed her lunchbox.
"That's because you haven't heard half the dumb things he's said on our way to school. Sometimes he comes out of his house after I've been waiting for him and says the dumes−" Mayumi quickly covered her mouth, realizing what she had just revealed to her friends. Satomi looked legitimately stunned, her cold expression replaced with legitimate surprise. Hoshi was so shocked that she had dropped the omelet piece she was holding with her chopsticks on to the floor while Ana leaned back into her chair with one eyebrow raised. 
"Wait, wait, wait. You wait outside his house everyday to walk with him to school?" asked Hoshi dumbfounded, "How long has that been going on?" Mayumi refused to answer her question, her face getting redder and redder. After a couple seconds of silence, Ana broke it with laughter.
"You wait outside this guy's house every morning to walk with him to school and you're gonna tell us you're not in love with him," she asked all while laughing.
"Shut up," Mayumi said as she grabbed Ana and looked down to hide how embarrassed she was.
Satomi pushed up her glasses in place. 
"It would explain why you seem to be so close to him. Have you ever asked him if he reciprocates your feelings?" asked Satomi, now appearing calm like before.
"I−" Mayumi couldn't muster up an answer as she turned to face Satomi, her face becoming quite red.
"O.M.G. Mayumi. Your so red right now. If you really want to be lovey, dovey with him you should just tell him. Who would say no to you?" added Hoshi. As the girls questions started to slow down a bit, Mayumi regained some control.
"I can't," she asserted, causing the others to quiet up a bit, "I can't tell him. I just... I can't."
Seeing the slight sternness in her answer, the girls slowed down and stopped before Satomi asked,

"Why not? What's wrong Mayumi?"
Mayumi turned to each of her friends before she started sighed,
"I met Shirou for the first time years ago when we were both kids. I was so different back then and we had built this... instant connection. It was like we were destined to be friends. As time went on, I started to like him more and more until I realized that I love him. But..."
Mayumi felt Satomi's hand as she put it on her shoulder to comfort her.
"But what?" she asked. Mayumi sighed before continuing her story,

"But by the time I realized what my feeling, I had changed. He didn't change that much from when I first met him, not really. But I had changed so much. So a part of me wondered if he would love me back even though I was such a different person."
"Different how?" asked Hoshi.
"I used to be more... more bold," Mayumi explained, "I always said what was on my mind and often times what was on my mind was either brash or stupid. But, it was those things I said that had made us friends. I was worried that, I may have changed too much for him to still like me. I stopped telling him to prioritize what made him happy and we started arguing more about his future. At this point, I don't know if he sees me as an entirely different person than the friend he made five years ago. If he wonders why I've changed so much while he hasn't." Mayumi looked down as she finished telling her story. Hoshi put her arm around Mayumi as she looked back up at them.
"I just... don't want to ruin what we have right now. It's nice. I get to talk to him basically everyday and we're still friends and he seems happy. I don't want to jeopardize that because of my stupid feelings," Mayumi concluded.
"Your feeling aren't stupid!" Hoshi yelled at Mayumi, standing up. Mayumi flinched at Hoshi, she so rarely yelled at people, let alone Mayumi.
"Don't say that. Never say that about your feelings. They're not stupid and you aren't stupid for feeling them," Hoshi continued as her eyes seemed to slightly well up. Mayumi absorbed what she said before realizing why she was so passionate. Hoshi must have been so lost in regards to her own feelings of love, especially because a lot of people wouldn't accept that she liked girls. It must have taken a lot to find confidence in her feelings when a lot of people would say they're not valid.
Mayumi turned from Hoshi to Satomi to Ana; she was among friends and they were there to support her, not to invalidate her feelings. 
"Mayumi," Ana started, "I get not wanting to ruin what you have right now with Shirou. But be honest with me. Are you happy with what you have with him right now? Or do you want something more?" Ana's question hit Mayumi like a truck. Was she happy with what she had with Shirou now. Just being friends who talked on the way to school and not much else. Was she fine if that was all they were, forever?
Mayumi stared blankly towards the table for a couple seconds before turning back to Ana. She shook her head. Ana grabbed hold of Mayumi's hands and looked her straight in her eyes,
"Then think about what you want to tell him. Don't be afraid of what you could lose when you should be thinking about what you could gain."
Mayumi sat there for a second before leaning forward to give Ana a hug. Hoshi immediately joined in to hug the two and pulled in Satomi to do the same.

As lunch period came to ending, the three separated with Ana who headed off. The three returned to their classroom to take their afternoon classes, but Mayumi couldn't focus. What should she say to him. He was also right there, behind her in the back of the class. She didn't dare turn back. She worried if she saw him, she would change her mind. She thought about what she wanted to say. How she regretted things like not giving him the help and support he really needed, instead telling him to ignore and run from his problems. That even though she had changed so much in the past half decade, that she still loved him and wanted to be more than just childhood friends. She continued to think these things that she wanted to say as she walked with Satomi to the student council office for today's meeting, leaving Hoshi outside the room who promised to wait. 
Satomi did her duties for the meeting, recording the contents of the discussions from the various student council members while planning out schedules and such for the next weeks or so, but she was still thinking about Shirou. As the clock ticked closer and closer to the meeting's end, she felt like time was slowing down. Every minute, every second, every tick sound the clock made reminded her of what she was planning to do when the meeting concluded.
30 minutes. 
25 minutes.
20 minutes.
15 minutes.

12 minutes.
10 minutes.
9 minutes.
8 minutes.
7 minutes.

6 minutes.
5 minu−

Suddenly, the door to the student council office opened up as Hoshi stood in the doorframe. The meeting abruptly stopped and Mayumi felt as if she had a heart attack. Lia walked from where she was standing and went up to Hoshi.
"Hello, Hoshi. Is something wrong? Lia asked, "Our meeting is still going on for another 5 minutes. We−"
"I'm sorry to interrupt you," Hoshi said, butting in which urgency in her voice, "But people are talking about a fight that might start in one of the other rooms."
Ana stood up and ran up to Hoshi.

"Do you know where the fight's happening?" she asked.
"Class 1-B," Hoshi quickly replied. Before even letting Hoshi finish saying 'B', Ana ran off to the classroom. 
"Ana, wait!" Lia yelled, trying to stop her from running out. She turned back to Hoshi and asked, "Do you know what student's are gonna fight?"

"Umm, the only name I heard being spread around was Tommy," Hoshi answered.
Lia paused for a second before she anxiously bit her lip,
"Crap. Okay," she turned to the rest of the students in the council room, "Satomi, Yuko. Follow me, I may need your help to de-escalate this. Everyone else, your free to go." Lia exited the room and started running towards Classroom 1-B
Following Lia, Satomi and Yuko got up from their chairs and ran out the door to follow her. Hoshi ran up to Mayumi and asked, "What do we do?"
Mayumi thought for a second before also getting up from her chair,
"C'mon, let's go. We should make sure their okay."
"Right," nodded Hoshi as they both ran out of the student council room and towards 1-B.
Mayumi ran to class 1-B with baited breath and Hoshi right behind her. There had always been rumors that Tommy McArthur was a delinquent, saying that he supposedly got into multiple fights while he still lived in London. Most of the students thought he was the type of guy to smoke a cigarette after school and get into fights with gangs. Either way, he was trouble and Mayumi couldn't stand by while her friends ran headfirst into it.
The closer the two got towards the room of the conflict, the more certain students seemed to either have heard about it or actively want to move towards it. As they got closer, Mayumi started to yell at students to go on with their days and to walk away from 1-B. Some student's listened while a spare few felt even more emboldened to move closer.

Eventually, they made their way into the classroom. Mayumi saw the senior, who she recognized as Tommy, arguing with Lia. Satomi was in front of the door trying to keep other students from getting closer while Yuko was at the other side of the room talking to two student and Ana was standing in between the two groups in the middle of the room. Mayumi recognized one of the students Yuko was talking to, Johnny Satou. He was the star player of the baseball team. The student next to him was Masaru Igarashi, one of the school's best basketball players. What immediately stood out to her was that Johnny had his hand over his nose, with blood seemingly dripping out from under his hand.
Next to Lia and Tommy however, was another student who Mayumi didn't recognize immedaetly. He was Hiro Kamiya, another senior who seemed to be trying to get Tommy and Lia to stop arguing with each other.

"Apologize! Why the hell should I apologize?" Tommy yelled at Lia, "First he comes in here to bother me about a cig butt, that I didn't smoke,. Then those two wankers come in and accuse of me of attack them and when I defend myself you jump in to protect them? Piss off!"
"I was just here to ask you about the cigarette, Tommy," interjected Hiro. "I don't know what any of this is and I certainly ain't with them."
Lia stood firm in the face of Tommy's yelling,
"You punched him in the nose, Tommy," Lia yelled back, "Ignore the cigarette for a second. You attacked another student. Johnny says that Masaru claims you attacked him unprovoked during the lunch period. We can't come to a conclusion and figure out the truth if your being unreasonable and hitting them."
"Unreasonable?!" Tommy yelled back, "When I told the kid that I didn't hit the wanker he grabbed my by my collar and shoved me into the wall. What was I supposed to do, let him continue and do nothing until he threw the first punch because he can't accept that his friend is a bloody liar?"
"That still doesn't mean you can break his nose, Tommy," Lia asserted, "We have rules here, Tommy. You can't just respond to violence with more violence and think that's okay. That's not even mentioning the fact that Hiro found the cigarette still lit in a trash can full of paper."

"But that also wasn't me!" Tommy shouted, "I don't bring cigs to school you know that."
Hiro's expression became stern, "You're one of only a couple students to have been caught with cigarettes before, Tommy. You can't blame me for being thorough."
"And yet I'm the first one you go to interrogate? Why? You could gone to the other ones and not have been here when these two morons came in to falsely accuse me," answered Tommy, "Yeah, I got caught with cigs my first month here. But I promised I'd never bring them back and I didn't. I even hand over my bag to our student council president over here every morning to check in, because I don't carry them on me to school. But no, all it takes is one random cigarette and a false accusation from two muppets to get rid of all that goodwill between us, ey Hiro? Huh?"
Hiro took a step back, "Look.. That's not what I meant. I just wanted to−"

"Even if the cigarette isn't yours, that doesn't change the fact that two students are claiming you assaulted one of them and it doesn't mean you can break one's nose when they get rough with you," added Lia, trying to get Tommy to calm down.
"Oh, so when those two throw a bold-faced lie at my face and I get miffed because one grabbed me and pushes me against a wall, defending myself suddenly makes their word more trustworthy than mine? asked Tommy.
"I didn't say it did. That's not what I'm talking about. Please, if you would just calm down we could−" said Lia before being cut off.
"Are you implying that my friend is a liar?" Johnny asked as he walked up to Tommy, his hand still covering his bloody nose.
"YES! I am. How did it take me saying it twice to go through your skull?" Tommy answered in Johnny's facing, making him step back, "quite frankly, if it was just Hiro and the cig, I wouldn't be as offended as I am right now with your daft friend and his rubbish lie."

"He's lying," interjected Masaru, "Just like he lied about the cigarette. Everyone knows what he's really like, just look at him. You've all heard the rumors about what he's done."
The other students watching around and outside the classroom started murmuring and whispering, prompted by Masaru. Most of them believed that Tommy was a delinquent; it made perfect sense to them that a student who dressed up like a punk would be a delinquent.
"Oh! I apologize for wanting to wear something nice to school over this uniform. I guess we'll point me out because I'm not wearing a hoodie or a cardigan or a pretty little scarf. I guess the cigarette and desire for violence just apparated the moment I put this biker jacket on, eh?"
"Tommy, you're being irrational," said Hiro as he got closer to him, "we want to figure this out just as much as you do." Tommy scoffed at Hiro before turning to Lia.

"What? You got something to add, princess?" he asked her.
"We just want to ensure that the truth comes out," Lia answered, "That can't be done unless we all cooperate and follow the rules. That's the only way we can ensure the process is just."
"Just? You must be a special type of ignorant if your rules are stopping you from seeing what a load of tosh this all obviously is!" Tommy yelled, "Explain to me how it's "just" to accuse someone of something he didn't do based on nothing but rumors and the words of one dick-less bastard. And that's ignoring the fact that the only reason I'm getting two accusations thrown at me instead of the one is because that one's a coward who's hiding behind his mate to cover the fact that he's not only a shit person but a shit bully."

Hiro grabbed Lia by the arm and pulled her a little away from Tommy.
"What if he's not lying?" Hiro asked, "About both things? At the very least, he's right that we shouldn't assume he's in the wrong because of those silly rumors." Lia gave a deep sigh of frustration.
"I know that," replied Lia as she turns to Hiro, "But we don't have any other suspects and whoever they could be, those hypothetical suspects didn't just break a students nose. If there's even a chance that Masaru is telling the truth then we have to be thorough."
"I vouch for him," Johnny said, butting in between Hiro and Lia, "He's never done me wrong before." Having hear his words, Tommy starts laughing. Indignantly turning his head to the now laughing Tommy, Johnny asks, "What are you laughing at?"
"Sorry," Tommy says as he suddenly stops laughing.
"Oh. so because he's never done you wrong, he's somehow incapable of doing any  wrong, like lying. Is that it?" Tommy asked redundantly, "frankly, I'm astounded at how far your willing to stick your neck out for this piece of shit."
"Stop insulting my friend!" Johnny suddenly yelled back.
"I DON'T CARE IF HE'S YOUR FRIEND!" yelled back Tommy with more intensity, "HE COULD BE YOUR MUM AND I'D STILL CALL 'EM WHAT THEY ARE! A LYING. PIECE. OF SHI-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mayumi saw a group of students enter through the other class door and walk up to Tommy. Immediately, she recognized Shirou as he walked in with his group of fronts and ran up to Tommy.
"What the hell's going on?" asked Shirou as he came up to Tommy, "Rio and the rest of the band have been looking for you for 20 minutes. What are you doing here?"
Tommy turned to Shirou and softened his expression and tone.
"Sorry mate, I've just been defending myself from one of the most obvious lies I've ever heard in my life," he answered before turning back to Lia and Hiro.
"Wha−" Shirou asked before turning to see everyone in the room. For a second after finding Mayumi, they locked eyes for a second before Shirou looked away and spotted Masaru next to Johnny with his bloody nose.
"He punched him in the nose?" asked Shirou as he turned to Hiro and Lia.
"He broke his nose," answered Hiro, "I was here. I had come to find him to ask about a cigarette I found in a trash can that was still lit and then they came in and accused him of attacking Masaru."
Shirou turned his head to look at Masaru. As soon as he did, Mayumi noticed that Masaru was trying to avoid eye contact with him.

"Wait, who even found the cigarette?" Tommy asked Hiro, Have you thought of asking them?" 
"Some kid named Noboru showed me," Hiro answered, pointing out Noboru who was standing outside the classroom.
"Wait," Shirou stepped in and pointed at Noboru, "That Noboru?" he asked Hiro.
Hiro turned to look at Noboru before turning back, "Yeah that's him."
"That guy's Masaru's lackey," explained Shirou,  "you can't trust what he says."
Hiro turned back to look at Masaru. 
"Is that true?" he asked Masaru, "Do you know him?"
Masaru stuttered for a second before answering, "N... No. I've never talked to him before."
"That's bullshit," interjected Jun as he approached them, "Noboru and Masaru were trying to bully us out of our lunch spots today. We were only able to keep it because Tommy and Ichika stepped in for us."

"That's right," agreed Ichika as she stepped forward, "They were bothering us first. Shirou didn't do anything unprompted or violent against these losers." Johnny turned to Masaru,

"Is that true? You tried to bully them?"
Masaru, who was increasingly and clearly becoming more panicked, reached out and grabbed Johnny by his arms,

"It's not true; I would never lie to you. You gotta believe me, man. They're are liars" he said as he shakily pointed at the whole group.
"No," Ana said as she walked between Johnny and Masaru and the others.

"I might not know this Tommy guy or Shirou, but I know Ichika. And she wouldn't like about something like this," she added before turning to Ichika and giving her a nod.

Johnny looked at Tommy, then turned to Lia and Ana, before turning back to Masaru, who was still trying to hold onto his claim.
"What the hell man?" Johnny asked Masaru as he pushed his arms away, "Why'd you lie to me?"
Masaru, now shaken, tried to reason with Johnny.
"I... I swear to you... I didn−" 

Before he could say this, Mayumi watched as another group of students entered from the same entrance as Shirou and his friends. Immediately, one student ran over to Johnny. Shirou recognized him faster than Mayumi did. 
"Kazuya?" asked Shirou, now even more confused as the room filled with even more people.
Kazuya turned to Shirou, apparently not even noticing him as he ran to his friend with a blood nose. He quickly turned back to Johnny, 
"What happened, Johnny, who hurt you?" he asked. Johnny didn't verbally reply, but shifted his gaze to Tommy on the other side of the room. Kazuya turned to face Tommy before looking at Shirou, then Mayumi, then turning back to Tommy.
"Why the hell did you do this?" Kazuya asked, anger slowly rising in his voice. 
"Because your friend called me a liar and slammed me against the wall 'cus I called your other friend a coward and a liar," Tommy replied. Kazuya started to walk up towards Tommy before Shirou got in between them.
"Get out of the way," Kazuya said before he saw Shirou's face. He was immediately taken aback by his brother's expression. It was nothing like his normally deadpan face, but had contorted into one of confusion, directed back at him. 
"You're siding with them?" Shirou asked while pointing at Johnny and Masaru, not even breaking his gaze at Kazuya.
"Well, I know Johnny and I trust him," answered Kazuya, "I don't know Masaru as well but he hangs out with us so−"
"You hang out with Masaru?" Shirou asked, interrupting Kazuya's explanation.
"Yeah," clarified Kazuya, confused at how his brother was involved, "Why?"
Shirou's face turned from confusion to rage as he answered his brother,
"Masaru and Noboru have been bullying me since like, freshman year. The only reason they started to slow down recently and didn't kick me and Jun out of our lunch spot today is because Tommy stepped in." Kazuya stood their dumbfounded at what his brother told him. He had shared a table with someone who had been bullying his brother for a year? No, there's no way Johnny would be friends with someone like that.
"I... I didn't know," stuttered Kazuya, "I swear if I knew I never would have..." Kazuya couldn't finish his sentence before Shirou slapped him across the face. 
"What's wrong with you? Shirou asked with emotion that neither he nor Mayumi had heard in years.
"How do you manage to constantly be around all the people who try to make my life shit?" Shirou yelled at Kazuya. 
Mayumi saw from the corner of her eye as one of the girls who had walked in with Kazuya tried to go up to him after he had been slapped, but was stopped by two of the other students they came in with.

Lia, had been quiet for a bit while these people had come into the room. She turned to Tommy,
"I'm sorry Tommy, you have my condolences," she said before turning to Hiro.
"Can you please tell everyone not involved in this to leave? And um, can you bring the nearest teacher here so we can make it easier to put all this shit to rest?" she asked Hiro. Hiro nodded before leaving the room, sending away everyone except for Shirou and his group of friends, Kazuya and his group of friends, Hoshi, and Mayumi and the other student council members.