“What do you mean by ripped?” Kyoko asked.

“Someone broke into our club room and ripped apart the clothes we made for the fashion show.”

Kyoko sighed. This started to look just like what had happened to Kuri-chan early January this year. It had been their last term at middle school, and not everyone appreciated how beautiful the tall and skinny girl had become.

“Envious idiots?” Kyoko asked no one in particular. She got no response, not even from Midori-chan who had just reported the vandalism burglary. “OK, I'll have Kuri-chan handle it,” Kyoko said.

But first of all she needed to calm down a scared club member. She might look like a gorilla with that awful hairdo, but Midori-chan was just as scared and fragile as any other girl.

'Any other person,' Urufu and Kuri-chan would have said. They were kind of funny that way, refusing to accept the normal differences between men and women. Sometimes Kyoko admired them for it. Sometimes they were just a major pain.

Kyoko scrolled up her call history and punched the fifth last number. It should have been either the last or the second one these days. Yukio's normally competed for the other slot, but now things were strained between Kuri-chan and her, and they hadn't spoken much lately.

She quickly told Kuri-chan what had happened. There was a certain relief in hearing her friend's voice, but right now she would have preferred seeing Kuri-chan face to face. After the call Kyoko walked down the stairs to make her way to the gym hall. There had been a rescheduling, and for all effective purposes they now had to run the fashion show both days instead of only once.

Some third years with a lot of clout forced a beauty contest. An embarrassing misunderstanding of the American style prom queen and king, Noriko had said.

Above her Kyoko heard running steps. She knew those steps. Kuri-chan must have been running since she got the call. She did a lot of running between the festival planning room and the two events the cultural club was involved with.

At least 3:1 weren't involved with anything that Urufu didn't handle himself with that monstrous planning brain of his. Kyoko wondered how he kept up with it. 6:1 had a play to prepare, the club had both the fashion show and the barbecue area, and on top of it all another twenty stalls from several other classes depended on him by now.

She sighed and took a few more steps. More carefully now after she had experienced falling down them. With a bit of guilt Kyoko realised she would have preferred if it had been Yukio's steps running down the stairs from above, but he covered Urufu's back, and Urufu had already gained a hero's aura as a demon organiser. He was swamped with requests, and thus she and Yukio got very little time for each other during school hours.

“Ko-chan!”

Kyoko turned her head upwards and nodded to Kuri-chan as she bounced down the stairs. “Yo!” she greeted her blond friend.

“Yo! That was some time ago.”

It had been. A year or so. Both Kuri-chan's Japanese and English had been littered with stereotypical American slang during their early days of friendship. Friendship. The word made Kyoko's chest constrict.

“Going to the gym?”

“Yeah,” Kyoko said. They really needed to talk.

Kuri-chan suddenly grabbed both her arms. “Ko-chan, about everything. I'm sorry.” Her face was painted with worry and guilt.

“You're an arse.” Kyoko wasn't prepared to forgive her friend just yet.

“I'm sorry.”

“You're an insensitive moron.” And venting her frustration helped a little.

“I'm sorry.”

“You're an arrogant bastard.” But that was also an important part of Kuri-chan, and it had become a part of their friendship.

“I'm sorry.”

“You're my best friend.” Because in the end she really was, no matter what happened between them.

“I'm sorry.”

“What the hell...” Then Kyoko saw the guilty grin splitting her friend's face in two. “You're hopeless,” Kyoko said and shook her head.

“I'm sorry,” Kuri-chan answered and let go of one arm. Only one arm. She hugged the other to herself, and Kyoko found herself escorted through corridor, cafeteria, under the sails and all the way to the gym hall.

It didn't bother her at all. Kuri-chan's stupid antics were a vast improvement over the last days' estrangement between them. But their friendship had changed. It could never again be as innocent as it had been earlier.

“So how do you plan to solve the clothes?” Kyoko asked as they entered the gym.

They had to navigate some props for one of the bands that was going to perform during the festival. And by the scene she saw some freshmen from 6:1 working on the set of their play, but Yukio wasn't among them.

Kuri-chan held her answer while they made their way through the impromptu obstacle course. “I'll handle it with the agency, but there's another solution as well. I'll ask the old goat first,” she said when they were through.

There's only one more student in the school who'd dare to refer to Principal Nakagawa as 'the old goat', but only Kuri-chan would get away with it. “Ask Principal Nakagawa about what?” Kyoko said and acknowledged the livestock referral.

“Remember the fashion shoot last month?”

Kyoko pretended to study the students from 6:1. “Yeah.” Not that she had taken any part in those shoots. She didn't have the looks for it, and she knew Kuri-chan would only grow even more beautiful in the years ahead.

“Should be about time for Uniclo to launch that line about now. And the shoot ended up with a high school beach party special.”

Oh, you meant the last one when all of us were invited? “Yeah?”

“All club members are from this school. I think I can get them to sponsor a Himekaizen special, because it would tie in with that last evening.”

The answer confirmed her unspoken question, and Kyoko could see why that would need a green light from the headship.

You're amazing, Kuri-chan. Still, there were others who were amazing in their own ways, and Kyoko wondered what the Wakayama twins were doing right now.

***

Normally he would have flirted a bit more with the girls from 9:1. They kind of knew each other from middle school after all, but at the moment he needed them to help out with the chaos 5:2 and 3:1 were responsible for.

Of course he couldn't help flirting a little. He was the prince of Himekaizen after all, just as he had been the prince of Red Rose half a year earlier. Right now he used the latter fact ruthlessly. As long as the newly transferred girls believed they had more right to his attention, because they had shared middle school with him, they were prepared to help him with his plans.

When his phone blared alive he left it on speakers on purpose.

“Ryu here, what do you want Urufu?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Some shit happened to our props. Christina's on it, but I'm sending Yukio over to the gym to help out as well. He has to help out with the play anyway.”

Ryu stared at his phone. From around him he could see the girls giving him questioning looks. “OK? Noriko's tied up with sponsors for the rest of the day. I'm kind of busy myself.”

There was a muffled sound from the phone. Is he laughing? “Stop picking up girls already!” the speakers suddenly said. Oh, no the bastard can see me from wherever he is. He's helping me.

Ryu understood he'd been given a cue, but he wasn't exactly clear what it was. While their friendship had grown rapidly the last month, he still couldn't communicate by silent magic the way Yukio and Urufu sometimes seemed to do. He had to play the cards he'd been given by heart.

“Hard to avoid,” Ryu started. “I'm with the only thing good Red Rose had to offer.”

The girls closest to him giggled with pleased amusement, and a couple of them blushed as well.

“With you saying that I assume you're dating a full length mirror right now.”

Now it was Ryu's turn to blush. Bastard! Then he laughed. “Wall mounted, Urufu. Wall mounted or it would be too small.”

“Yea yea, leave the toilet and get out here.”

So he's pretending he can't see me. OK means I'm playing it right. “No need. I'm with the only real red roses from my middle school.”

That bought him more than a few gasps and shouts of admiration.

Above him the sky had clouded over, but there would be no rain for the length of the festival. He gave the clouds some more stares while he pretended to think about what Urufu had said.

“Ryu, can you handle your side of this. I had a chat with Christina, and I need to get some extra funding to set up a couple of unplanned stalls.”

What's going on? “Sure, I can handle things here. At least with the help of girls I can trust.” And there he played the final card given to him by Urufu.

Ryu only needed a glance around him to see that they had bought it all. It wasn't fair, and it was a bit underhanded. Just like Urufu had taught him to work when time was of essence.

“Superb, I knew I could count on anyone leaving that hell hole,” Urufu said and sealed the deal. With 9:1 you could trust their almost fanatical hatred of Red Rose.

They closed the call and Ryu drew a deep breath. We're building an army here. There's going to be a showdown sooner or later, but I don't know what kind of war Urufu is planning for.

It was time to focus on the problem closest at hand instead. Ryu turned and shot the girls his most charming smile. “I have a small problem with my own class and some juniors. Would you mind helping me?”

“Sure, what is it?” It was a girl from what had been 9 – C or 9 – D in middle school, he couldn't remember which. Cute but not exactly a beauty. Bright though, and he wondered why she hadn't transferred to Irishima High instead.

He looked at her eyes. She bought absolutely nothing of that call, but she's still playing along. Maybe I've got an ally here. “The juniors wanted an outdoor cos-play café here, but they don't want to handle dishes. I need to use some of my classmates for the dishes and they resent it.”

“We transferred here too late for festival planning. I'm sure my classmates would want to take part in anything you need us for,” she said and confirmed his hopes.

“Urufu wants an international cuisine food plaza, and with some extras waiting tables I'm certain we could promise everyone handling dishes some slots waiting tables in fancy clothes, and get some spare time as well.”

She looked at him. “Urufu? There was one delinquent in Red Rose who was caught fighting...”

Ryu laughed. “It's him, but he never was a delinquent.” He looked at her again. “He's running the show, and trust me, he's very good at it.”

“Funny. Guess that's why he turned down patrolling the festival grounds then.”

So the rumours about the thugs are true then. “Patrolling?” Ryu asked to confirm his suspicion.

They had almost arrived at the centre of the local problem before she answered. “Yea. The student council wanted some help and asked some of my classmates they believed were suited to the task.”

Suited to the task. Damn, you're almost as cold hearted as Urufu. “And you just happened to remember Urufu being expelled from Red Rose?”

She blushed a little at that. With a smirk she turned around an almost finished stall and waited for him. “No, no I didn't.”

Aww, shit! Not another one? And he doesn't even try the way I do. Ryu grinned and beckoned one of the juniors from 5:2 to him. “So what brought him to your attention?” It wasn't very nice of him to ask that question, but with the festival about to start he couldn't afford any hidden friction between the members of his staff.

“I had a crush on him, but he didn't know any Japanese so I didn't know how to approach him,” she admitted.

Good thing you didn't. I'm sure he was still in love with that lost wife of his a year ago. But I can't tell you that. Suddenly Ryu felt awkward. “He's going out with Kuri now.”

“Kuri?” And it was as if a glimmer of hope had died in her eyes.

Sorry, but I'm going to extinguish your hopes once and for all. “Ageruman-san. She's from Sweden as well. You don't stand a chance, and I wouldn't root for you anyway, because they're both my friends.” It was harsh, but he didn't have time for anything else.

She threw a hand to her mouth. “Ageruman-san? The model?”

“Yeah. There's nothing coming between those two,” he said. And with those very words he slowly started to accept that it was time for him to move forward as well, just like his sister had done.

If he was honest with himself he treasured his friendship with Kuri higher than the thought of realising his crush on her anyway.