Zero Sum Game, page 22
Nakatani stared out the window at the boys and girls running, laughing, and having fun despite the practice and heat. He turned back to Ozaki. "Nothing. Not now, we'll tell them at this afternoon's homeroom."
"Sir?"
"If we tell them now, Ozaki-sensei, they'll get distracted and won't be able to practice. Everyone will want to go to the hospital and talk to this poor girl. No, we'll tell them later."
The decision surprised Ozaki. The students had a right to know. He thought someone should go visit Ami, let her know everyone was concerned. Nakatani took the idea right out of his mouth.
"But someone from the school should visit her." He looked at Ozaki. "You should go, you're her homeroom teacher."
It made sense to him, but he still believed it was wrong to hide this from the students. "Let me take Hina Takamachi." At Nakatani's confused expression, he continued. "She's Ami's best friend. It would be good for Ami to see a familiar face. Plus," he said as the principal opened his mouth to object, "she can go as a student representative. Let her friend know everybody is concerned for her."
Nakatani thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Go ahead. Tell…what's her name?"
"Ami Isobe."
"Tell Ami we're all here for her."
After leaving the principal's office, Ozaki switched his indoor shoes for his outdoor ones and walked across the sports field. He wanted to sprint but knew it would attract attention. He found Hina under her team's tent. She stood near a boy, her right sleeve pulled up onto her shoulder. She flexed her arm, displaying a softball size bicep. The boy flexed as well, but she outmatched him. Two other boys punched him in the ribs for being outgunned by a girl.
"Takamachi-san," Ozaki barked.
Hina whirled around, and jerked down her sleeve. Ozaki leaned into her ear, not wanting the others to overhear. "Come with me. Now."
Hina seemed confused. When she didn't move right away, he snapped out, "Now," loud enough for a few nearby students to look their way. Hina walked to the main building, slow and unsure. Ozaki put his hand in the middle of her shoulder blades and gave her a small push.
"Hey!"
Coach Mori jogged towards them, his cap unable to keep in the sweat from his forehead, a clipboard clasped in one hand. "I need her for the next relay."
"I'm sorry," Ozaki replied and gave a small bow. He turned towards the school. Hina watched the two teachers, looking unsure where to go.
Mori cut in front of him. "I need everyone to practice. The red team's going to win the sports festival."
Ozaki bit back his anger; a student lay in the hospital and all the coach could think about was winning. But Mori didn't know about Ami's condition, and he wondered if telling him would change his attitude. "And I'm sure they will," he said.
"Takamachi is my strongest member," Mori said.
"And my homeroom student," Ozaki countered, biting off each word. His face must have betrayed enough of his anger because Mori walked away in a huff.
Ozaki instructed her to put on her uniform and meet him at the front entrance. When she did, he led her to his car and they pulled out of the parking lot.
CHAPTER 24
Her homeroom teacher drove quietly for several blocks. Hina was glad he had stood up to Coach Mori, but Ozaki's sharp commands and clipped tone were scaring her.
She didn't recognize the route they were taking. "Where are we going?"
"To Hiroshima Shimin Hospital," Ozaki said.
"Why there?"
Her English teacher's lips tightened at the question. She had a bad feeling about what was coming next; he reminded her of her father's sidelong looks when he had something he didn't want to say. Her father was a terrible liar and poor at giving bad news. Ozaki was the same.
"Ami is in the hospital. We're going to visit her now."
"What?" She screamed the question louder than expected. Ozaki winched but kept the car steady. "What happened? Is she all right? Did you call her grandparents? What? When, when did this happen? She was fine yesterday, wasn't she? Is she going to get better?" The questions came as a stream-of-consciousness river without a dam to break it up.
"She's not sick. The police—"
"The police? What do they want with her?"
"Hina," Voice interrupted, "if you'll pause for a moment, I'm sure Ozaki-sensei will give us all the information he has available to him."
"Shut up, Voice."
The statement startled Ozaki and he looked at her uniform. She wasn't worried about Voice, or Ozaki remembering she wore an alien suit; she was concerned about her friend.
Ozaki began again. "The police say she and her grandparents were beaten up. And pretty badly. All of them are all right and are resting. Before you ask, a detective called me a few minutes before I came and got you. Believe me, I'm as shocked as you are."
"I doubt that," Hina said. Anger began pushing aside her shock at the news. She felt relief that Ami was okay and not sick with some terrible disease or something similar. She wondered why anyone would want to beat up her friend. Could it have been those delinquents who had stolen her purse? She didn't think so.
Ozaki glanced at her. "She's my homeroom student," he said. "My responsibility. I know I'm coming in at the middle of the year, but don't think for a moment I don't care about you, your friends, or anyone else in my class. All of you are my responsibility."
He meant it. She clasped her hands together and stared down at her lap. She bowed. "I'm sorry."
The hospital came into view. Ozaki parked his car and the two of them entered the reception area. After signing-in, they took the elevator to the recovery wing. Ozaki gently knocked on door 238. Hina didn't hear a welcoming call. Ozaki slid the door open and stepped inside. "Excuse me," he said.
Ami lay in the single bed on the left while her grandparents occupied the two beds on the right. All three were asleep and dressed in white gowns and bandages.
Ami's grandfather had gotten the worst of it. A bandage wrapped his head like a turban with its top missing. A cut bisected his lower lip. White cloth bound his left forearm and his right arm was immobilized in a cast from his shoulder to his wrist. His left pinky and ring fingers were in splints. Ami's grandmother had fared better, she didn't have any casts and one arm was wrapped in bandages. Her right eye was purple and swollen shut.
Hina was most grateful for Ami. She didn't have any wraps, only adhesive bandages covering her many cuts and bruises. Hina ran to her friend's bed. Rhythmic breathing noises matched the motions of Ami's chest. Her glasses lay on the small table beside her bed.
Ozaki stood next to the door, giving her some space to be with her friend. Tears welled in her eyes at the sight of Ami lying in the bed while a smile also tugged at her lips, grateful she hadn't gotten the worst of it. She squeezed her friend's hand. She wondered if she should wake her up or wait for her to come around herself.
Ami's eyes flipped open and she yelped in pain. Hina recoiled in surprise. Ami grabbed her hand and cradled it to her chest. "Ow. That hurts." A tear of pain rolled down her cheek and dripped onto her white bed sheet. She jerked her head around, as if searching for an unseen assailant. She spotted Ozaki and Hina; the fear drained from her face, replaced by confusion. Still cradling her hand, which was turning red, she put on her glasses. She smiled, becoming her old self again.
"Hina," she said. She seemed to forget the pain in her hand.
Hina was ecstatic Ami was awake and smiling. She wanted to lean over and hug her friend but was afraid to. "How are you feeling, Ami?"
"Good." Ami propped herself up with her pillow and rubbed her sore hand. "What was that?"
"Probably residual pain from your incident," Ozaki said. Hina almost smiled at him, grateful for the cover-up. He walked to the bedside.
"Ozaki-sensei," she said and bowed.
He returned the gesture. "The police called the school and told me what happened. I told the principal, and he sends his sympathies and hopes you'll get well soon. Hina is representing the students." He nodded to her.
That was news to her; she thought she was visiting her friend. But she caught Ozaki's glance to play along. "Umm…that's right. We're all waiting for you to get back and dazzle us with your complete lack of fashion sense. I vote for your brown rice sack as your comeback attire."
"My grandmother gave me that dress," Ami said, mock indignation coloring her tone.
Hina leaned in closer. "I know," and the two girls fell into a fit of giggles.
Ozaki cleared his throat. "Speaking of…" He walked to Junko's bedside; her one good eye opened and she took in her surroundings. Her gaze fell on Ozaki. He said, "Hello, Isobe-san. I'm Ryuhei Ozaki. I'm Ami's homeroom teacher."
She gave a small nod and winced in pain. "Nice to meet you. I'm Junko." She gestured to her husband in the next bed, who was also awake. "And this is Atsushi." Ozaki bowed in greeting, but Atsushi couldn't reciprocate it. Junko said, "You needn't bother coming all the way out here, Ozaki-sensei. We had an accident, you know…it was…" She trailed off.
Her husband picked up the conversation. "We're tired, we could use some rest." To Hina he said, "Thanks for coming out to visit Ami." He turned his gaze to his granddaughter. "You're glad to see your friend, aren't you, Ami?"
Hina didn't know why Ami's grandfather's tone wasn't quite…normal. Ami turned her head away and stared at the doorway. She tapped the bed with her middle finger, a nervous habit that Hina recognized. Ami said something, but Hina didn't catch it. "What was that?"
"It's a lie," Ami repeated, loud enough for everyone to hear. She looked at her grandparents. "I can't do it anymore. I hate lying to my best friend."
"Ami, don't," her grandmother said.
"Are you going to come over and stop me?"
Hina had never heard her friend talk back in that tone before—not to her grandparents or anyone else.
"Ami, you—" Ozaki began.
She cut him off. "It was the yakuza."
Atsushi chuckled. "My granddaughter watches too many cop dramas."
Ami looked at Hina. "That's why I have to keep canceling our trips together."
"What does shopping have to do with getting beat up?"
"I have to give the money to the yakuza," Ami said.
The room fell silent. Junko closed her eyes in embarrassment while Atsushi's face mixed that embarrassment with anger. Ozaki nodded once in understanding. Ami avoided Hina's gaze.
She didn't understand their reactions. "I don't get it," Hina said.
"Extortion," Ozaki said to Ami. He moved away from her grandparents and stood in the middle of the room.
Ami nodded. "Every month, men come. They come to every shop in the neighborhood and we have to pay them for their 'protection.'" She spit out the last word. "That's why I can't go clothes shopping with you, Hina, or go out to the movies. Every time we save up some money, we have to pay it to them."
"Protection from what?" Hina asked.
"From the yakuza," Ozaki said.
"You pay them money to protect yourselves from them?" The idea of paying money scratched at Hina's memory.
Ami's grandfather spoke up. He sounded weakened. "If we don't, incidents like this happen. They'll never kill us. But they certainly make us hurt."
Junko took up the explanation. "And if we miss a payment, it's more the next month."
Hina looked at Ozaki. It was the first time she had ever heard of something like this. He nodded in sad understanding of the situation.
Junko sat up, her gaze bouncing back and forth between Hina and Ozaki. "And you can't tell the police. Please don't."
"Why not? The police can help," Hina said. She grasped her friend's hand, hopeful. "If you tell them, they can catch the bad guys. I mean…"
Hina trailed off as her friend shook her head. "We can't," Ami said.
"Why not?"
"Because this happens," Atsushi said. When Hina said nothing, he pointed at his face and raised his bandaged arm.
Ami held her friend's gaze. "If we tell, we get in trouble."
The connection between paying money and the memory in Hina's head slammed together like magnets. Ami's grandfather had been telling the large man with rings that he would pay them money, and the man had said something about it being the same every month. Then Hina had caught up with him; pushing him down, humiliating him, telling him to leave that couple alone.
"So what happened this time?" Ozaki took off his glasses, rubbed them with a cloth from his back pocket, and put them back on.
Ami said, "I was getting ready for school this morning when I heard noise and yelling. Then a big guy came into my room and hit me for no reason. Then he dragged me into the living room. That's where grandma and grandpa were."
The blood ran from Hina's body and pooled into her feet.
Ami continued. "He said that was for one of the guys. We have no idea what he was talking about. We don't." All three of the Isobe's nodded, and Ami's eyes told her she wanted Hina to believe her, that Ami hadn't done anything wrong. "I guess they think one of their men was beat up and they thought it was us."
Because he'd been beaten up by a girl, Hina thought. Her stomach tightened. She had caused this. She had beaten up a yakuza, and he told everyone it was a junior high school girl that had done it. One near the taiyaki shop. There was only one girl in the area.
They thought it had been Ami.
She had been hurt because of Hina.
She heard nothing else after that. She walked to the doorway, unaware of what was going on. Images of her foot on the man's chest and Ami's bruises filled her mind. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. She realized she was trying to pull it open, so she slid it to one side. She walked out of the room, and by the time she was halfway down the hall, she was jogging.
After passing through the main entrance doors, she broke into a run.
— — —
The next afternoon, there was a knock on Hina's apartment door. She slid off her bed, opened the door, and found Ozaki on the other side.
"You didn't go back to school yesterday," he said. "You didn't come in today, either."
Hina didn't reply. She had called the school that morning and told them she wouldn't be in. She didn't give a reason to Ms. Ota, only said she wasn't coming and hung up.
Hina stared at her teacher. He wasn't mad. He stood on the landing, back stiff and arms at his side.
"May I come in?"
She stepped back. Ozaki entered and closed the door. She didn't know what to say or what to feel. His presence didn't evoke anything in her. She didn't know what she was going to do next.
It surprised them both when she leaned forward and hugged him, burying her face in his suit jacket, clasping her arms around him. He let out an "oof" and stood there while she held him. He kept his arms at his sides. After a moment he gasped, "You're still strong without the suit."
His voice broke her numbness and she stepped back. He tugged on the bottom of his jacket to straighten it and caught his breath. The corners of Hina's lips tried smiling, but her eyes remained sad and lost.
"Come in," she offered. Ozaki took off his shoes and she led him into the living room.
Hina made a cup of coffee with milk and sugar and gave it to him while he sat in silence. After several sips, he set it on the table. He sat cross legged on the floor while Hina slouched in her father's chair.
Ozaki broke the silence. "You're fashionable today."
She wasn't in her uniform; she wore an oversized bright red sleeveless shirt with a purple top underneath it. Tights with one bright green leg and one yellow leg showcased her large quads and calves. A large pink bow tied up her ponytail. She shrugged at Ozaki's comment. This was the first time he had seen her without her uniform. She tried not to think of that…thing…heaped in her closet.
"Ami told me about the magazine you really like. What is it?"
"Nicola," she said. She wished he would stop with the small talk and get to his point. She kept her gaze on her orange sock-covered feet.
"You left me with some explaining to do yesterday. Which would have gone over much better if I'd had an actual explanation." He waited. "Can you give me one?"
"I'm stupid," she said.
"Do you want to explain that, because I don't speak teen angst-ese."
His sharp tone hurt her. She had to come clean about what had happened over the last few days. He was the only one who knew her secret; if she couldn't tell him, who could she tell? She had alternated between being snappish and sullen with her father last night when he had asked about her day. Now she felt a little guilty about it. Ozaki would understand, and she realized that was why she had hugged him. He would know and could help. But she was still reluctant. As an only child, she was good at taking responsibility; after all, there had been no one else to blame when she had done something wrong. She knew she had caused these problems but was afraid that Ozaki would say she was right, that she was responsible. For some reason, she didn't want him blaming her too.
She began by telling him of her desire to be more courageous. She left out the part about how anime characters seemed so courageous, he would think she was being childish. She told him she wanted to be brave. She talked about her nightly patrols, thinking they would help because she would be facing more dangerous situations in the future. She told him about stopping criminals and how she was becoming braver and helping people. She told about that early morning patrol: meeting and accosting the yakuza thug. She ended by explaining how they must have thought it had been Ami since she was the only junior high school girl who lived in the area. She didn't cry as she blamed herself, but her throat tightened.
When she finished, Ozaki said nothing for several moments. "What does Voice think?"
She turned her head away, as if she had smelled a foul stench. "I don't know, I don't want to speak to him. It's partly his fault anyway. He gave me those stupid powers." She flicked her fingernails.
"I see," Ozaki said. He gazed into his half full coffee cup and swirled the liquid. He took a small sip, then threw the coffee into Hina's face.
