A few days later Ulf wasn’t as certain about how good the new year looked.

A number of the teachers yelled at him when he showed up despite being suspended, and Kareyoshi screamed bloody murder. It took a couple of men in black business suits to stop the yelling and screaming, but they had the sense to ask him to cease flaunting his invincibility in the face of his principal.

After that Ulf decided to stay away from school for the duration of his suspension. He didn’t care for getting problems with the acquisition of new customers after all. On top of that, the presence of bodyguards came as a surprise to him, and right now he didn’t need that kind of attention.

The next day he saw Christina on Ryu’s arm. That hurt. Amongst the jealousy welling up, Ulf managed a thought of pity for Ai’s sake. He hadn’t heard anything about the pair breaking up.

After yet another day, that he spent at home wallowing in self pity, Ulf called Noriko. Asking Ryu for help right now was out of the question, and Ulf couldn’t call Yukio without Ryu getting involved. The two of them had made just as close friends as Ulf wanted from the beginning.

So what remained was hoping Noriko would agree to help him without calling in the cavalry. With Christina glued to her brother’s arm Ulf had higher hopes Noriko might agree to it. If not, he’d play the lovesick boy to convince her she really couldn’t get Christina involved; not that it required any acting from his side. Watching Christina with Ryu made him want to throw up.

As it turned out Noriko was more than willing to help.

Two days later, after three grossly overpaid work sessions, Ulf walked Noriko to exactly the kind of restaurant he had ruled out on that first date with Christina almost a year earlier. If money was easy to get by, it were harder to spend now when he no longer had Christina to enjoy his time with.

When he met Noriko she gave him an amused smile. “You do understand this looks bad?” she said instead of greeting him.

Ulf did, and he didn’t care. He grabbed her in a bear hug and swung her around. She was the first of his friends he’d talked to since he fled Tokyo astride his bike.

“Down! Down this moment!” she said, but she didn’t push him away.

Ulf let her down anyway. “Sorry about that. Just that I really missed you guys.”

“Idiot bro and ex girlfriend as well?” Noriko said and twisted the knife.

Ulf didn’t take that bait. Whenever he got into bantering with Noriko he couldn’t be sure he’d end up on top. She was just too bright.

Feeling a little morose he escorted her into the restaurant, where they were led to their table.

Christina’s tailor-made suit from last summer guaranteed no one questioned his right to dine here. Noriko’s choice of clothes only strengthened that impression.

Forgot you were always the rich kids. Does you honour you never flaunt it to the other students.

For a moment Ulf harboured the idea to order an excellent wine to go with their dinner, but he quickly abandoned that idea. First of all he had no idea what normal amounts of alcohol would do to his teenage body. What binging did he knew from that horrid evening in the Stockholm Haven café after he witnessed the suicide.

More importantly, he just didn’t think it would be worth it in terms of taste. Wine was an acquired taste from his mid twenties during his previous life.

“I apologise,” Noriko said from across the table.

Ulf realised she read his silence as a reaction to her barb earlier. “No, I’m the one to apologise. You’re a good friend and make splendid company, and I treat you with silence.”

She smiled. “You know,” she began. “I’m together with Nao, and because of that reason I’d appreciate if you treated me like a woman and not like your daughter.” She didn’t say: ‘Because Nao already does’, but Ulf didn’t need her to. Noriko had grown in her relationship, and she deserved being treated like someone with her own wishes and goals.

“I’ll try,” Ulf said. Then he grinned. “I won’t promise I’ll succeed, but I’ll do my best.” That had to suffice. She was still very much a child in is eyes; a very bright child, and one he wouldn’t have minded courting had he both truly been a teenager as well as one who hadn’t been as tongue tied as he remembered from those days.

“You wanted to ask something,” Ulf said when their starter had arrived. It tasted just as delicious as he remembered.

Noriko swallowed her food and looked up from her plate. Ulf could see how she was both used to eating out like this, and still very much a child, but he pretended not to notice.

“It ties in with my request earlier,” she said. “I need to understand what’s happening. I want a reason I can accept as to why Kuri would do this to you, and Ryu to Ai-chan.”

Ulf shook his head. He didn’t know. Growing up didn’t make you omniscient. “I can’t say for certain, but in Ryu’s case I believe it’s a matter of moving on.”

“But he hurt Ai-chan!” Noriko’s eyes showed pain at the betrayal of her brother.

Did he really? Yes, he probably did. “Who broke up?” Ulf asked. He’d been away, and answering questions with insufficient data was a common source for errors. Insufficient data, ha, trying to behave like the great CEO. Cut crap! Here you’re a school-kid.

“I, I don’t know,” Noriko said between two mouthfuls. “You think Ai-chan might have broken up with bro?” She put her fork to rest on her plate and waited for him to answer.

“As I said, I don’t know. I just try to avoid speculating too much.”

The waiter arrived with two glasses of what looked suspiciously like white wine.

Midway through the starter, and they suddenly serve wine? Ulf looked up and gave the waiter a long look.

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“Watered wine, sir. It’s very weak. Courtesy of the kitchen.”

Ulf nodded and accepted the gift. Then he took a sip. It was heavily watered down, or rather mixed with something very close to water. While he could taste the dryness there was very little alcohol left.

“You should try it,” he said to Noriko. “It’s good.” It was time for the reason he had asked her here. “Tomorrow, would you mind being my date for a day?”

“Date?” she asked and sent him a quizzical glance. “Are you cheating on...”

“We already broke up,” Ulf interrupted, “and I’m not asking you to cheat on Nao. It’s strictly business, and besides we have school tomorrow.” And this is where you differ from the other school girls? Ulf thought. You’re already able to understand this is a business dinner and not a date.

He shot Noriko a long look. In some ways you’re older than your years.

Noriko gave him another glance filled with questions, but in the end she nodded.

***

Their date did indeed take place at school. Ulf had planned it this way. For everyone else it would look like him taking petty revenge on Christina, and to a certain degree on Ryu.

Just to mitigate things Ulf called Nao and asked him it he was fine with Ulf borrowing his girlfriend for a day. To Ulf’s surprise Nao had nothing against it. Always a bad sign. Ulf kept that last thought to himself. No need to worry Noriko uselessly.

During lunch break the two of them very publicly left the cafeteria with their food and made their way all the way up to the freshmen floor. To any onlookers it would look like they made a run for the roof.

“So, what’s the point with all this?” Noriko wanted to know. Her eyes glinted with an expression that told Ulf she was less than impressed with his plans.

For a moment he thought of saying as little as possible, but that would be unfair. Instead he grabbed her in a way that made it look they were far more intimate than friends to the surprised freshmen peering out from their classrooms.

She gave him a surprised smile but didn’t try to get away. Still, there was no reason for him to tease her needlessly, especially not after what she said during yesterday’s dinner.

“New arrivals,” Ulf said as explanation for his behaviour.

“Huh?”

“I’m gambling on there being new arrivals who start their freshman year now.”

This time she did move away, but Noriko didn’t pull entirely free. What he had just said must have piqued her interest after all. “What? Why?”

“Noriko,” Ulf said, still a little too close to her. “I refuse to believe all the shit we’ve been through is normal. The only reason for the infighting would be if there are more arrivals.”

“I don’t understand,” Noriko said, and finally she stepped clear from him. “In short words, why?”

“If they have reasons to believe arrivals would pop up every year, then the stakes are totally different from the ten years between James and the two of us.” Ulf counted on not needing to specify who the ‘two of us’ were.

Noriko’s response was totally unexpected. “You know, you’re so full of yourself I sometimes want to puke.”

Ulf stared at her, and her face displayed a distaste that matched her words. Cool girl. You’re right you know, but that’s not what I’m talking about. “Maybe, but this is about how important they think we are,” he said. “If I’m full of myself or not isn’t important. Hell, I’d prefer if they didn’t care about us at all. At least I’d have a fair shot at making a life with Christina.”

“Bullshit!” Noriko said. “You had it, and you threw it away. You both did.”

That was a statement Ulf didn’t dare comment. It came far too close to what he suspected was the truth. “Just help me round up any new arrivals if we can find them.”

Noriko didn’t say anything, and together they walked the corridor and looked into each of the freshman classrooms in the right wing.

In the third Ulf found what he was looking for.

“Noriko, do some shit on the blackboard, please. I’m grabbing that boy,” he said and nodded at a boy sitting close to the door.

You’re not from here. South-Eastern Europe?

Noriko shrugged, a western gesture he had taught the members of the club, and then she entered the classroom. When the students stared at her Ulf entered as well. He beckoned to the boy and had him rise.

“New kid here?” Ulf asked when the boy approached the door.

“Who are you?”

“You tell me,” Ulf said and smiled.

“How would I know,” came the unexpected answer in far better Japanese than Ulf had mastered after two years here.

Ulf swore. He himself looked pretty much the same as all the other Japanese students. “I’m from Sweden,” he said in Swedish.

The change in the boy’s face was worth an entrance fee. “Moved here?”

Ulf shook his head. “More like suddenly arrived here. What's your name, kid?” Ulf asked, still in Swedish

“Thomas Kanovic,” the freshman answered sullenly.

“Kanoviku Tomasu, then I guess?”

Thomas nodded.

OK, let’s see if we have a jackpot or not. “How old are you really?”

Again that face changed. Now it was almost pleading. “What if I say I’m well over forty?”

Yes! “Then I’ll still call you kiddo. Ten years your senior talking to you.” Stockholm accent. Not a trace of anything else. He is born back home.

Thomas’ eyes widened. “What do you want?”

“I want you to join our club. It's becoming unofficial, but you'll see me and more who know. Unless you really want to join one of the other clubs.”

Thomas shook his head.

“Where are you from?”

“Sweden,” came the angry answer. Then Thomas’ face displayed understanding. “Red Rose, eh, Akai...”

Ulf shuddered. “It's OK, Red Rose Hell, I get it.”

“It's not really called...”

“I went there my first year here as well. Red Rose Hell, wouldn't you agree?” He turned to Noriko who had gone pale. Akai, which was enough for her to understand. Ulf nodded to her in confirmation. Just to make sure, just to make sure.

“It was awful.”

“So you got a letter of recommendation here I take it. Do you have an education from back home?”

Thomas flared up. “What's with the racism? From you of all people!”

Eh?

“I could pass that joke of an entrance exam while sleeping. I hold a doctorate in Japanese classic literature. I'm… I was a professor at Stockholm University.”

Me and my big mouth! I just love myself. “I apologise. I’m a former CEO from the IT sector. Look, we really need you to join, even if that makes you get into trouble.”

“Trouble?”

“There’s another, my ex. Well, there are more of us, but we can’t talk about it in school, OK? They gather all of us in this school.”

“All?” Something broke in Thomas. “Please, could you try to find one Jennifer Cooper! She was with me when things got mad.”

Ulf grinned. Hell yeah! Jackpot! “Stick to Noriko over here. I’ll see if I can find her.”

Ulf hardly finished the sentence before he was out in the corridor and running to check out the other classrooms.