My Life Turned Out Okay. (Or Did It?)

The TV's absentmindedly blaring in the background of an ordinary Thursday morning as I'm sitting at the breakfast table. When I say ordinary, I don't mean ordinary for us. I mean ordinary for everyone else. We really shouldn't be here in the first place. If everything had gone the way it was supposed to, we would be in Kanagawa right now, all crammed into Uncle Jirou's rental house like a bunch of sardines. Tamaki and Tasuku would have to use the same bed and then he'd kick her in his sleep and she'd wake up and start throwing hands and I'd have to separate them...but by some miracle, that's not happening right now. It's past the 25th, and we're still in our home. And now...it's ours. Mom didn't tell me much about all the legal stuff, but the loan is officially canceled. For the first time in my life, we're not in debt. Maybe not for long, but right now we're not. We even got our front windows replaced at no charge. A couple of guys in uniforms showed up at 5 AM on Monday and got it done by 6:30. They never said anything the whole time.

If an obnoxious third-year had never stuck her nose in my business, challenged the people who held my family's livelihood in their hands, and used her connections...we wouldn't have come close to succeeding. If we had just accepted defeat like I was going to at first, none of this would have happened.

If I had been able to tell Reika Suzuran no, then I wouldn't have been able to tell Ayappi how I feel.

The most important question now is...what do we do with all this money? We're not just in debt now...we're honestly rich. We didn't pay off the debt. The debt got canceled. We didn't pay a cent. In the end, the yakuza kept their word. I don't know why they suddenly changed their minds after trying to screw us, but they did. Honestly...something probably went on in the background. Not worth thinking about it. There are more important things to worry about. Like the sixty-three million that's now in our bank account.

Should we refund the GoGiveMe? I mean, people gave us money because they assumed it would help pay off a home loan, and then it got canceled and now we're pocketing the cash...it doesn't feel right. Maybe give the rest to charity?

You gotta be kidding me, brain. For the first time in my life, we have money to spend, and the first thought I have is giving it all away. It's like I can't comprehend being anything other than poor. Besides, Mom decides what to do with it, not me. Should we renovate the interior? We should at least have the cash to pay a couple part-timers now...

As I absentmindedly chew a piece of burdock root from my kinpira gobo, my mind slips back to the Monday morning where I was supposed to transfer out. I tried to play it cool and walk through the front gates like nothing had changed at all. Of course, it had. My cover had been blown wide open, and now the entire class knew my sob story.

Were things going to change from then on? I didn't know. I just tried to act like normal. I slid the door open, said "Hey," and got swarmed.

About twenty people all clustered around me, faces lit up.

"Tatsu! Tatsu! Welcome back, dude!" Of course Satake was the first to jump me. "Man, we all thought you were hosed!"

"Congrats, Aikawa-kun!" Yamasaki made sure to shove Satake out of the way when she pushed her way through the crowd. "You did it! No, we did it! You liked the card, right?"

"Yeah, thanks, guys..."

"Good work, Aikawa." I felt a slap on my back, and turned to see Miyama giving me a thumbs up.

"I'm so happy you're back, Aikawa..." Even Hiura seemed a little happier than normal.

"You did great, Aikawa-kun." Of course, Sudou was there too, radiant as usual.

"It's no big deal..." I was trying to get the crowd to disperse so I could get to my seat, but they weren't going anywhere. I kept getting asked what happened every few seconds- from Yokota, and Saigo, and Furihata, and eventually I had to tell basically every single one of my classmates, even the ones I rarely talk to (there aren't many), that we just paid off our debt and I would be staying at Shinchou and that's all there was to it until Sudou finally managed to clear everyone off of me. By the time I managed to get to my desk and put my stuff down, I had a headache.

There were three people that weren't in the massive crowd swarming me. Number one was Banri Sakuchi, sitting at her desk, surveying the crowd with mild amusement like a lion watching its territory in the savanna. Number two was Ayappi. There was no need for her to fake amusement or pester me. She already knew everything. Instead, she was busy doing her usual thing and pestering number three.

"Haru-kun! Haru-kun! Who would win in a fight? The Evangolian or a 20-foot-tall Lemilia Crimson?"

"I don't know who Lemilia Crimson is! You've been asking me this nonstop since this morning and I already told you that!"

"She's small and cute but she's an extremely powerful vampire monarch. I bet she could fight a mecha to the death if she was big enough."

"Good for her. I don't care." Haru put his head down on his desk in his crossed arms, the same way he always does when he's sick of Ayappi.

"Hey, you two." Once again, I tried to play it as casual as possible. It was kind of hard to do when I was barely a foot away from the girl I had just confessed to the previous night.

Ayappi noticed me, blushed and turned away slightly, and then it was like a switch flipped and she was her normal, hyper self. "Takkun! Hey, Takkun! Did you read Jujitsu Saisen this week?"

"I haven't had time to..."

"It was so cool! There was this big fight and then they went like BANG and WHOOM and the lawyer guy who just got introduced did his special power where he puts someone in his supernatural courtroom domain-"

"Hey, Tatsurou." Haru barely looked up from his napping position, his bangs falling over his face. "Can you get her to shut up? She won't listen to me."

"Hey! This is important stuff I'm talking about!" Ayappi yelped.

"Seems a little too tough for me." I grinned and Haru immediately exhaled in a long sigh, finally sitting up and stretching. I gave him a curious look. "Are you tired or something?"

"Somebody decided she would kick my bedroom door down at 5:30 to wake me up...and somebody let her in the house." Haru flashed Ayappi a glare as she continued yapping about Janp.

"Sounds rough." Man, I would have killed to have that happen to me. "Oh, yeah. Isn't there something else you want to say to me?"

"Like what?"

"Something like 'I'm glad you're back?' 'I'm glad you won't have to move?' Weren't you worried at all?"

"Not really. I always knew you were gonna do it." He looked away for a second, slightly embarrassed. "But I am glad you're here today."

I giggled a little bit. I got Haru to open up. It takes a lot to get him to show any other emotion but annoyance and frustration. "Thanks, dude."

Apart from the announcement of our elderly homeroom teacher that in fact, Aikawa-kun would not be transferring and the "family matter" was resolved, school flew by that day. Karate practice was the same swarm of friends around me, asking me all about how everything went, and I gave the same response. Except for Haru, who was standing off in the distance, getting in some extra stretching on his own. I didn't blame him. Hearing the same questions over and over again was getting tiring.

Practice went by. And then the next school day. And then the next. I sat at my desk and took my notes, just like normal. I went to practice, just like normal. And then I went home and took care of my siblings and did my homework, just like normal. Mom told us she'd hired a part-timer who was starting soon. I did the same things the next day.

My life is the best it's ever-

"In a news report from Suginami, seven adults and one juvenile were arrested yesterday evening on suspicion of racketeering, fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, and other crimes-"

The yakuza boss's face flashes on the TV, and my chopsticks drop to the floor with the rice still pinched in between them.

"Masahiro Ootsuka, 42, was implicated as the head of a financial services company engaging in illegal predatory lending, credit card fraud, and witness intimidation. It had links to the Okayu Group..."

Tasuku comes ambling down the stairs, carrying his tattered blue blanket in one hand, rubbing his eyes with the other and yawning. "Tatsu-niichan, good morning..."

"Sorry, lil' bud. Gotta go." I push my chair in and head toward the door, slinging my school bag over my shoulder. "Make yourself breakfast. Be a good boy and wake your sister up this morning, ok?"

Before Tasuku is even fully awake, I'm out the door. I blow past Mom arranging things downstairs with a passing greeting, and I'm gone, off toward the station.

Man, the hour-long train ride is excruciating when you have something you need to do.

I'm at school way earlier than normal, so there's not a lot of people around. Competition season for the sports teams is over, so they're not practicing in the morning anymore. However, the Student Council still needs to show up early. I know that much for sure.

I enter the club building, quickly stomping up to their office. It's dark and locked. Not there. I check what seems like every room in the building. Not there. I check the shoe lockers. No. The first-floor bulletin board. No. The stairs. No. Outside in the rock garden area by the old school building. No. The Gardening Club's garden. No. The first floor with the first-year classrooms. No. The second floor with our classrooms. No. The third floor with the third-year classrooms-

I slide open the door to class 3-6, and there's a shock of long-dyed hair right in front of me- no blazer, short skirt, carrying a bag with all sorts of charms and pins...

"Come on, Momo. Just lemme squeeze once. Just once won't hurt you-"

"Hey, you." I growl as soon as I'm within earshot.

I don't look, but I think the whole class has gone silent and is watching us. It's already weird enough for a freshman to show up unannounced in a third-year classroom as is.

"Aikawa-kun?" The president smirks as soon as she turns around and sees me. "Did you wanna see Momo's boobs in person, too? I bet someone told you all about them and you couldn't resist getting a look for yourself. I don't blame you. They're really big. Teenage guys like big boobs, don't they? 'Cause they're horny all the time. Heh." She gestures to the girl sitting down next to her, who's completely red in the face.

"Reika! Shut up!" the girl snaps.

"Anyway, Momo...just one little pinch-"

"Come with me, right now." I'm not in the mood for any joking. I'm out of breath and covered in sweat because I spent the last thirty minutes looking all over the campus for this girl.

"Eh?" President Suzuran looks halfway taken aback. I don't care. I turn tail and start heading for the door. I think I see my old captain look up from his book with a confused look on his face as I go.

It's only when I reach the shoe lockers that I turn around and realize that the president actually followed me. I was debating grabbing her by the arm and pulling...but then she would have probably popped it out of its socket. And everywhere I went, people would be whispering about the freshman who tried to confess to the student council president. Someone watching might already get that idea.

"So? What's this all about?" She stands confidently, arms akimbo, as the light streams in from the windows above the front door, lighting her hair a fiery copper.

"I saw the news this morning."

"The news?" She puts a finger on her chin, and then lights up. "Oh yeah! They're gonna film a M*rvel movie in Japan! I saw that too. I bet it'll be super-"

"That's not what I meant, moron. The loan shark who was extorting my family got arrested. And I'm pretty sure Wahira did, too."

"Oh. Congrats, they deserved it."

"You went and did something behind our backs, didn't you?" I stare her down intently. She just shrugs.

"Aikawa-kun, I'm just one girl. How much do you think I can actually do?"

"Don't play dumb. I know you had something to do with it." I mean, I saw her kick Wahira dead in the face and then drag him off to who knows where. And then I never saw him again. It doesn't take a genius to figure out something was up.

"Well..." She closes her eyes, smiling. "Let's say I did do something to get them to cooperate. I promised them I wouldn't go to the police if they canceled the loan. But...I didn't say anything about the other businesses they'd been shaking down." She smirks.

"You know, you basically just admitted it."

"Did I?" She looks up at the ceiling quizzically. "Or, Ootsuka's boss could have found out what happened and forced him to turn himself in because he was outraged at his underhanded tactics. Or another piece of evidence comes to light and the police arrest them for a completely unrelated reason. There's a million things that could have happened."

"I don't buy it," I snap. "You had a part in it."

"Aikawa-kun, these people made your life a living hell for years and you're upset 'cause they got what they had coming?" She purses her mouth, looking over her shoulder at me with disappointment.

"I'm not! I could care less about what happened to them!" I cry. "But...I thought after seeing how hard you were working for our sake, I thought I could trust you. And then you went behind our backs. In the end, nothing we did mattered! Not the fundraiser, not the promotion, not Lara, nothing! It's all because you did something really, really dangerous! And probably illegal! Negotiating with those guys?! Are you insane? They kill people!"

"I never said I did anything," she replies flippantly. "Everything worked out okay in the end."

"That's not the point I was trying to make-"

"Aikawa-kun, let me tell you something." She cuts me off, her face coming so close to mine that I can feel her warm breath on my cheeks. "Sometimes you have to break the rules if you want anything to change. You're too hung up on doing things the 'honorable' way. Someday that's gonna bite you." She pulls back. "I said I'd make sure your family kept their home and business, and I did. Don't worry about me. Just be happy you got what you wanted."

I'm frustrated. I thought she was annoying and nosy, but as time went on, she genuinely seemed like she wanted us to succeed. So I let my guard down. I trusted her, and then the reason we won is because she went and did something underhanded and kept it from me like I'm a little kid who couldn't handle the truth. Man, if I had known this was all I needed to do...I would have just beat Wahira up and threatened to turn him in if the yakuza didn't cancel our debt a long time ago!

She turns tail, her glistening copper hair flowing down the back of her white shirt. "If you ever need help again, give me a call. I'm always available. Later, Aikawa-kun."

She strides up the stairs confidently, and then I'm alone again, standing in the far corner of the shoe lockers while the sounds of students arriving fills the air around me.

I still don't like her. Or maybe I do. I don't know what to feel anymore.