Three days later Ryu received a mail from Urufu in the morning. It was terse and to the point: “Found him. Done.”

That started a nightmarish ping pong game of messages which forced Ryu to re-evaluate his friendship with Urufu.

“What do you mean with 'Done' more exactly?”

Two hours later the answer arrived. “Police. Dead.”

“Whoa! Urufu, what did he do? Dead, did you two get into a fight? Was he shot?”

Ryu ate a late lunch when Urufu finally responded. “Worked in restaurant. Married. Prison.”

“Urufu! Please more information!”

And that information waited until three in the afternoon to materialise. “Prey married after school. Pregnant wife. Found him in restaurant. Called police.”

“Urufu. I understand the police part, but what do you mean with dead?”

Ryu deserted his mother in the middle of their late dinner when his phone beeped next time. “Nakagawa nullified marriage. Prey to prison. Killed himself.”

“Urufu! Did he suicide! That's too much. I need to understand what happened.”

The last message didn't arrive until after Ryu had fallen asleep, and it was the first thing in the morning that he noticed. “Lost family. Suicide when fetched by police. Good riddance.”

Almost a day it took. Ryu answering more or less immediately when he received a message and Urufu waiting for hours before he sent one back.

Ryu decided against answering the last message. Instead he called his sister.

***

“Mom, something bad happened in Tokyo. It...” Ryu felt uncertain how much he dared involve his parents. What can I tell her? She'll call dad if I say too much.

His mother must have sensed that something was awry because she put a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. “Friend in trouble and you can't tell me all about it?”

Ryu nodded gratefully. You're the best. “He needs me.” Ryu averted his eyes and stared at the sliding doors to their room. On the other side lay a corridor feeding the entrance and outdoors cars passed by, the sound of their engines muted by two walls.

No matter how much he loved his parents this wasn't the kind of problem high school students were supposed to have. He couldn't possibly tell his mother that Urufu had been involved in the death of another person, even if indirectly.

“Is it that bad?” The grip on his shoulder tightened. Ryu had to look back.

“Yes,” he admitted. He didn't know what else to say.

“One day we'll talk about this. Promise?”

“Promise.” She would hold him to that.

“For now you're needed elsewhere. I'll change your ticket and call father. Good friends deserve good friends. Go and be one!”

Ryu just nodded back. She really was the best.

***

Ryu threw open the door to the café, scanned the room with his eyes and ran for his sister behind the counter. Her part time job. Not because she needed the money, but because she wanted the experience.

“He's in there, with James,” she said and glanced up at him. Noriko threw a look at the door to the inner room. “I think they're drinking alcohol,” she said quietly so the rest of the members wouldn't hear.

“Kuri?” Ryu asked. He gave the door a look as well. Opening it and going inside smelled of trouble.

“She's away. Something about a window of opportunity. If she doesn't do whatever she's doing this week she'll never get the chance again.”

When he needed you the most. What were you thinking? It opened up an opportunity for himself, but by now Ryu liked them both too much to want their relationship to end this way. I'll steal you away from him one day, but not like this.

“Ryu, she's in there as well. His guardian. You can't tell anyone. She's a police,” his sister said.

Ryu stared back at her in shock. Sato-san here? Then the absence of more close friends nudged at him. Why is half the club core gone? “Yukio?”

“Club room Skyping with Kyoko.”

“Kyoko?” Where is everyone?

Noriko looked at him with something akin to disgust in her eyes. “You really should know, but you never listen idiot bro. She's in Kansai somewhere with her family.” She tapped her head with two fingers and wrinkled her eyebrows. What she thought about his mental capacity was only too obvious.

Ryu winced. Noriko had told him when and where each of them would be spending their summer break. Planning the beach trip with the club would be impossible otherwise. “So, Kyoko's gone, but why the hell isn't Yukio here? It's his best friend after all.”

Noriko just shook her head. “Idiot!” she said loud enough for some of the members to turn their heads and look at them. A low murmur of amused agreement lingered in the café afterwards.

Stolen story; please report.

I hate it when she calls me 'idiot' without telling me why. Ryu stared at his sister to make her talk. For a moment he harboured an idea of trying to stare down the other club members in the café, but a quick look at their faces told him the likely result.

Behind him a wall mounted AC sputtered and coughed. The very café agreed with that assessment.

Noriko sighed, but she spoke nonetheless. “Bro, you only ever listen to dad. His grand vocabulary, epic ideals and righteousness, huh?”

Ryu nodded. Dad was more interesting than mom, even though she was a better listener.

“I'm not going to say it's only big words,” his sister continued, “because it's not. It's the way we are, all four of us. We stand at the front. Urufu and Kuri even more so.”

He went through the motion of buying some tea to make their conversation by the counter a little less obvious. “And?” Ryu asked, because it was clear Noriko hadn't finished yet. She was just reloading.

A one thousand yen bill from his wallet transformed into a handful of coins and a cup of tea. He fingered the porcelain and waited for his sister to continue. Now wasn't the time to interrupt or she'd chew his face off.

“Ryu, you really should talk with mom more. She would make you understand. You of anyone should.” Noriko wiped the counter clean and sighed. “To shine as bright as Urufu and Kuri you need a Yukio or Kyoko at your back. A wingman.” Then she looked up at him. “You'll need one as well one day.”

“And you?” Ryu quickly asked. Being praised by his sister felt strange.

“Me too, one day,” she admitted. Then she busied herself with an order from one of the tables. “But that's not what's important,” she said when she returned with a tray of dirty plates. “Yukio and Kyoko have always stood back, and now for the first time they have someone they treasure, someone for whom they're the hero. Get it?”

He didn't. “Not really. I still think Yukio's an awful friend for sitting at school when Urufu's breaking down here.”

“You really are my idiot brother.” Noriko glared at him. “Of course he is! But it can't be helped. They got together less than a week ago.” She poured a cup of coffee to a club member who had arrived at the counter and took a few coins in return. “His first girlfriend. She's more important to him than anything in the world. Hell a phone call from her is more important than any of us two.”

Ryu could only listen to the onslaught. That kind of all-consuming love was alien to him. “I don't get it,” he complained when his sister finally seemed to run out of steam.

Bad decision. She shovelled half a ton of coal under the boiler and went to work on him again. “Idiot bro! Stupid! Yukio confessed last Sunday.”

Her voice rose loud enough to carry through the entire café and that had the club members get into action.

“Yay for Yukio!”

“Good for him!”

“Great couple!”

Both Wakayamas stared at the members until they returned to their own conversations.

“He confessed during Kuri's grand entrance.” Ryu noted how Noriko dialled down the volume a notch when she continued. “You know Kyoko, don't you? Proper and improper and all that?”

Ryu nodded and watched his sister's back as she carried dirty plates and cups to the kitchen sink. This time he decided to wait for her to finish and he remained silent.

“She kissed him at the Shibuya grand intersection. In front of five thousand people, a couple of camera teams and right where Kuri had everyone's eyes glued!” her voice said from the kitchen.

He could hear running water while he digested what she had just said. That's kind of impressive. That's a hell of a lot impressive. Kyoko! I didn't think you had it in you. “OK I get the picture. So?”

When she returned her hands were tinged with red. Too much hot water apparently disagreed with her. “Ryu what makes you think a small thing, like for example Mount Fuji erupting, would get Yukio's attention when Kyoko wants it?”

“Ah.”

Noriko brightened. “Finally!”

“But...”

And there was doom and gloom in her face again. “But if she doesn't want it? If she tells Yukio to get his arse over here? That but?” she suggested.

Ryu nodded again. Sis reading his mind was normal.

“No way. She wants. She's in love you idiot! Besides the only one she cares about apart from Yukio right now is Kuri. Kuri's gambling everything on this modelling stunt of hers. That's why she can't be here now.”

“Everything?”

“Idiot bro, she's not rich like us. That Sunday cost her all her savings. She burned six hundred thousand yen to make it happen.”

That was an impressive amount of money, but not excessively so. “Urufu could help her.”

“Moron. That's exactly what she does not want. She's not a cute little Japanese doll waiting to marry a strong man who can take care of her for the rest of her life.” Noriko hid her face in her hands, and Ryu felt he despair concerning his mind oozing from her. “Read something! Learn something! Go Google M-shaped employment and use that head of yours for once!”