Prison School: No More Prison

Chapter 15: Midnight in Hachimitsu

Mari's POV:

After what felt like years, I finally talked to my sister once again.

"S-So… It's true right… You're no longer in Japan, right?"

Straight to the point, huh?

"... Yes, Indeed. I'm on France right now"

"Y-You are w-where?!"

"Ah… Guess I didn't put that on my letter, I'm sorry for that…"

That's right, as my academic record stated, I've been proven perfect for most french High schools, so after a little talk with my father, I had the chance to move here in less than a week.

"... I-I have so many questions.. but…"

"..."

"Why?"

"... 'Why' what, exactly?"

"Why did you leave? Why didn't you tell me? Why on my birthday of all days?" Chiyo's voice sounded a bit broken, but she didn't sound desperate.

"... Well, to begin with, I didn't choose your birthday for any specific reason, I didn't have any other option, my new school rules are quite… 'harsh' with new students…"

"...I-I see… I didn't think of that…"

"Still, I feel terribly sorry for not coming to your birthday… I hope you and the guys had a great time"

"..."

"...Chiyo?"

Complete and utter silence filled my room. Chiyo went completely silent. Does this have to do with her feeling down? I shouldn't push it but I want to know what happened there…

"I would rather not talk about that day, for now at least" Chiyo sounded a bit hurt but oddly serious.

Well, guess I'll have to ask Hana or Kiyoshi about it later, Meiko and Kate were too busy trying to catch me before my flight so…

"It's okay… About why I did it… I felt like there was no longer any space for me"

"... Space?"

"You know, Chiyo… When I saw that helicopter crash against the prison, I knew my time at this school was over"

"The prison? Why?"

"I felt that… My biggest attachment to this school as the president of the USC, was that prison. The moment it broke down to nothing but dust… I felt that I, as a member of Hachimitsu, died too"

"Y-You are saying that… The prison was a part of you of sorts?"

"Heh… You could say so… That's not my only motive though… I felt that I had done more wrong than good to the school, and there's also the fact that I…"

"That you?"

"... Befriended some males…"

"..."

It hurt my ego to say so, but… It was true, I felt a genuine connection to those guys. Nothing more than 'friendship' of course, but before being thrown into prison, I couldn't stand being in the same room as one.

Something had changed inside of me…

"So there was no more reason for me to be there, my presence not only damaged the school's reputation, but it also hurt some of my beloved friends…"

"... That's why you didn't tell me, right? You didn't want to ruin my birthday?" 

"... Yes, that's correct… But I feel like I still managed to do so… I'm deeply sorry, Chiy-"

"No, big sis, I'm not blaming you or anything, I know what you've been through… I just wished I had a chance to say my goodbyes to you…" Her voice softened while she spoke. I could hear someone, probably Mayumi, patting her in the back.

"... I'm sorry… I promise I'll eventually come visit you. Next time, we could even go to one of those sumo events you like…"

Chiyo remained silent for a bit, but then she faintly chuckled…

"... I would like that a lot…"

"... What happened, Chiyo? You sound so… hurt…"

"..."

As I decided to ask about her well being, she went mute once more. It didn't take a lot to connect the dots: Something had happened on her birthday… And it had to do with Kiyoshi.

Now that I think about it… My talks with the other were too casual compared to the feeling I'm having on this one. I should have questioned them more…

"Sister, I want to ask you something?"

Her questioning took me by surprise, her voice went deeper than ever.

"Y-Yes…"

"... What's the thing you hate more in this world?"

"T-The thing I hate the most?..."

If you asked me that same question some months ago, I would have answered with 'men'... But now there's only one thing I hate more than that…

"Lies"

"... Thought so…"

This conversation was confusing me a lot, but I want to help my little sister in any way I can…

"...Do you think… That a lie made by someone you love… N-Nevermind…"

"...?"

This took me by surprise. If I'm right… Kiyoshi should have proposed to her on her birthday… But if it went wrong… Then something else must have happened… Did Kiyoshi lie to her about something?

"If you don't want to or can't talk about it, its okay-"

"Some people I cared about lied to me!" Chiyo suddenly bursted to my surprise, and to the faint scream I heard from Mayumi too. "A-And I… I can't forgive them… Not at all…"

Does this have to do with what Hana asked me?... I don't think so, they never were that close… I even thought Hana didn't like Chiyo…

"..."

"... I-I… I feel that I can't trust anyone else ever again…"

"... Do you trust me, Chiyo?"

"... Of course I do…"

"Then, may I ask what has happened?"

"... I-I don't… No, I can't… If I do so… I'll break again…"

'Break'? This might be worse than I thought… I can't seem to find any solution to this problem If Chiyo doesn't exactly tell me what happened… But…

"Tell me, Chiyo"

"...yes?" Her voice sounded a bit raspy yet soft.

"Have you talked to dad?"

"N-No… You're the first person I talked to… Other than Mayumi, that is…"

"... Did you know why I always hated men?"

"h-huh? n-no?"

"It was because of him"

"D-Dad? W-Why?"

"Tell me, what do you think about dad?"

"W-Well…" Chiyo took a small pause and started thinking. "He's always been kind and generous to me. He took this position in school to teach and make people grow, right? He's… A good person"

"... Heh…" I couldn't help but chuckle at her statement. "You forgot the fact that he's a 'closet' pervert"

"P-Pervert?"

"Yes… Dad has always lusted for big… Buttocks… He always brought adult material to school, not even talking about the mousepad you should've seen by now…"

"T-The one he used for his wrist pain?"

"Y-Yes… that one" How the fuck did she believe that…

"B-But dad is… A good person… How could he be a pervert?"

"... And that's the same thing I thought…"

"Huh?!"

"How can someone be good while being something bad at the same time? Well… That's because people aren't white or black… Most of them at least… People tend to be gray, neither evil nor good"

"..."

"The chairman is… A great educator… He always took care of the school, of its students, teachers… And his daughters too… All of that, while being a pervert…"

"..."

"... Yet I always hated him for that same thing… Don't think down on me, I still hate perverts… But I was blinded by just the 'dark' side of things" I looked at my desk, the tickets of my flights on the corner brought me one last thought. "... But now… Even with all the hatred and disgust I felt when thinking of him… I asked for his help on my exchange… And without a single piece of doubt, even while being in prison, he did everything he could so I was able to do what I wanted to do, no questioning nor stopping me… He only asked me one thing"

"... W-What?"

"If I felt this was the right thing to do"

"..."

Well… Even if he didn't ask that… I would have felt as grateful as I do now. He did help me even after all the beating I (justifiably) gave him.

"Maybe I can't tell if this is the same about your situation, but… Did those people lie to you for a justifiable reason? Maybe, just maybe, even with how much of a bad thing lying is… They had a good reason to do so…"

But to be honest, I have no idea what's going on… Maybe it's even worse than what I'm thinking and this isn't helping but…

"... Thank you, sis"

"Hmm?"

"I get it now… As always, you helped me clear my mind" Chiyo said with a calm voice. 

"Is that so?... You know… If anything happens, you'll always have me, no matter what…"

"I know… Thanks big sis… B-But I have one last question if you don't mind…"

"Yes, of course, what is it?"

"... W-What would happen if the one person you love, u-um… says they loved you… b-but u-um… they lied to you?" Chiyo sounded a bit embarrassed while also having problems communicating… She tried to lower down her voice, probably so Mayumi wouldn't listen

The one person you love? Lied to you? Just what happened on her birthday? I swear to god if Kiyoshi did something to Chiyo… I'll make sure Meiko kills him…

"What do you mean exactly?"

"U-Um… I thought I knew someone… Someone really close to me… but they lied to me about a lot of things… And one of them could be… liking me…"

… Then there's no way he's talking about Kiyoshi… As far as I've known, Kiyoshi is almost obsessed with her… Then who? I must find an answer for Chiyo's good…

"Then… Why don't you talk to them?"

"T-Talk to them?"

"What better way of finding the truth than… being honest with them, right?"

"... I guess so… But do they deserve a second chance?"

"... That depends on you, Chiyo"

"..."

Chiyo went silent again… M-Maybe what I said didn't help at all?

"I think I know the answer now… It's all thanks to you once again, sister…"

"R-Really? Then… You're welcome, I guess…"

"... B-Before you go, sis, will you… call me again?"

"... Of course, Chiyo. You can call me whenever you need to"

"Thanks ... I love you, sis" Her voice was as soft as it used to be. It reminded me of some moments of our childhood together…

"I love you too, Chiyo"

[...]

As my call with everyone finished, I went out for a small walk in a park near my new residence. It was pretty empty, especially for a Sunday. 

On my small walk, I decided to sit on a lonely bench near the trees. It reminded me a bit of Hachimitsu. On days like these, I liked to take small walks at midnight to look around school in case of any troubles… But it was just some excuse to see the stars.

"...Hmm?"

As I looked to my left, a small set of clovers could be found, with a small four-leaf one sitting alone next to the tree.

I grabbed it, after the bad omen I had some hours ago, some good luck would not hurt anybody, right?

Inspecting the small plant, it reminded me of the time Hana made some bookmarks with the clovers the guys found… It was less than 2 if I remember correctly, so she decided to gift them to us.

*BZZZZZ*

My thoughts were interrupted by a notification from my phone.

It was Meiko, who without any text or anything, sent me a video. In the preview, I could see her and Kate, holding some instruments.

All I could do was smile, thinking how happy I am of having such fond memories of my time at that academy.

End of Mari's POV.

Chiyo's POV:

I sat down on the border of my bed, looking at my cell phone.

After some time, I grabbed some energy to drink some water right from the bottle. I tried not doing so, because it only brought unpleasant memories from one week ago.

I could see Mayumi taking small peaks from the desk trying to figure out what I was going to do 

now. I thought the same thing…

"Mayumi"

"Y-Yes?!"

Mayumi jumped out of her chair, looking worried at me.

"S-Sorry for making you worry about me…"

"C-Chiyo-chan… A-Are you feeling any better?"

I looked at her with a small smile on my face. "Y-Yes… Talking to my big sister always helps me…"

"I-I see…"

I went near her and without much else to say, I hugged Mayumi.

"C-Chiyo?!"

"..."

"... I see… You need a hug huh?" 

I simply nodded. Then she hugged me back.

"I'm sorry, I tried my best to help you, but it seems your sister finished my part of the job. Tell me, what are you going to do now?"

"... I'm not sure… I feel there's something else I should do…"

I looked at the desk Mayumi was sitting at just to find a letter with my name written on it.

"It's that…?" I said while pointing at it.

"U-Uh? Oh… Yes… It's Kiyoshi's letter…"

I took a slight glance at it… And after a breath, I grabbed it.

"A-Are you going to read it? now?"

"Yes… I'll see what he wants to tell me"

I gently opened the letter. The first thing I could see was a really rough but polite handwriting I knew pretty well…

"So it truly is Kiyoshi's letter…"

I sat down on the bed, while Mayumi looked a bit confused and surprised at my doing.

After a small pause I did to prepare myself, I started reading the letter:

'Chiyo:

Hey. Sorry, I'm not as poetic as your sister to write a profound letter like her, but I'll try my best.

I'll start by the obvious, I'm sorry. I truly am. I did some terrible stuff to you, I lied, I desecrated you, but worse, I mistreated your feelings.

If you ever read this, I hope you ever give me the chance to apologize to you in person, that is if you don't just expose me for the trash I am, I would understand it either way.'

I felt my heart for a second, it 'squished' as I read the letter. My mind brought memories of what happened, it was a bit blurry, but I remembered everything as clearly as… Water.

His words weren't wrong. I was beyond disappointed, I felt betrayed. If anything, exposing their doings, would be the least. If I know what happened, if I knew how those two TRULY are… Maybe everyone else should…

But… I'm a bit surprised… He didn't mention Hana at all during his apology… Does he truly think he's the only one to blame?

I continued reading the letter…

'As this week continued, I tried to find different ways to afront my situation. You may have heard, I'm now part of the USC, as a temporary secretary'

H-Huh?

'This is your sister's doing, she wanted to help me regain my reputation while making sure Meiko and Hana had more help with their task. At first I took this change to do as Mari wished, but now I'm doing it for other reasons, such as trying to improve as a person. I want to help this school and your sister's legacy as much as I can'

… I see… But sis… Do you really trust a man to have this position? Secretary of the USC of all things…

'You see… I thought that if I did a good job in this position, I could have a chance to redeem myself and maybe prove to you that I'm a good man… But no, not only this won't work, but you haven't come to any classes lately. 

Everyone is worried about you, that includes me, even though I feel really guilty for what happened.

I'll be honest with you: I'm thinking of leaving the school after this. If the prison was still up, I would even voluntarily get in for the rest of the year, heck, the rest of my high school years, just for what I did to you'

I had no reaction to this statement. I would do the same, lock him up that is. He's… disgusting. But so is the other one…

I looked down to find one last segment on the letter.

'The last thing I wanted to say is… Do you remember the time we met after I got into prison? That time I helped a small baby crow get back to its nest? At that moment I lied about not peeping and promised to go watch sumo with you… But one thing got stuck in my head, you told me that 'people who liked sumo can't be that bad'. So, in a last ditch effort to improve myself, I started getting into sumo recently. That way, if you ever give me the chance to talk to you again, we'll have some other things to talk about. 

-Kiyoshi'

I silently stared at the letter. My hands trembled slightly as I read his name.

I closed the letter, slightly folding it in half. 

In that second, I grabbed my phone that was on silent mode. I had many messages from some friends, but one of them was from someone else, and it was from some minutes ago.

Mayumi peeked at me once more, but this time I looked back at her.

"Mayumi"

"Y-Yeah?"

"I know I've been asking you to do too many things, but there's something else I have to do…"

End of Chiyo's POV.

Hana's POV:

After the call from Mari, while Kiyoshi talked to her, I sat around reading the script he and the others wrote. I could have gone home as well, but something made me want to stay in the room. The idiot didn't seem to mind my presence there, in fact, while talking to Mari-san, it looked like I wasn't there for the most part.

Once he finished talking to Mari-san, we both just stayed there, almost waiting for something, but it looked like none of us knew what it was…

So the room went a bit silent…

"H-Hey Hana… C-Can you help me with something?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

He was the first one to break the ice.

"Maybe you heard what I was talking about with Mari.san but um… I have a 'pet' now… A crow to be specific"

"A crow? You wanna take Mari's title too?"

"N-No, it's not that… It basically followed me the whole day and… I guess now it's my pet"

"I see… Well, I know almost nothing about crows so I won't be able to help you-"

"I need help finding her a name!"

"A name?"

"Yeah… I suck at giving things a name… So I guess you could help me…"

"... I see… Have you thought of anything?"

"W-Well… My best one was… Rima… In honor of Mari-san"

"Damn, you're right, you're terrible at picking names…"

How the fuck is someone able to be terrible at everything? The only thing he seems to be good at is fucking everything up and escaping prison.

"I-I guessed so…"

"... But I must say… It's kinda cute of a name. Maybe you should choose it if you don't think of anything"

"S-So you won't help?"

"It's your pet, not mine!"

"F-Fine fine, I'll see…"

"..."

"..."

"... I-If I help you with this… will you help me with something else?"

"Uh? Yeah sure"

"T-Then… tell me, is it a she or a he?"

"I guess it's a she…"

You guess huh? Not very helpful… I started thinking of every name I could…

"... What about… Cora?"

"...Cora?"

"Y-Yeah… Mari used to call the female crows as their 'daughters' and I learned in history that 'Cora' means daughter in Greek…"

"... T-Thats… Really good! I like it!"

"H-Huh? W-Well then, there you have it…"

"Thanks Hana-san! I hope she likes her name!" He said enthusiastically…

"Y-You're welcome…"

"Then… What do you need help with?"

H-Huh? Straight to the point?

"... You'll do it no matter what, right?"

"U-Uh… yeah" His face went a bit more serious.

"... T-Then… Help me send a message to Chiyo"

[...]

We both sat next to each other… A bit too close if I said so…

"S-So… You got her number but you haven't sent anything yet, right?"

"Y-Yes…"

We both looked at my phone, empty chat I had with Chiyo looking back at us. In the past, I texted her a few times, most noticeable when Kiyoshi and I were on the futon, but as my phone broke during the cavalry thing, I lost all my contacts and chats.

"M-Maybe we should be straightforward with it? Like a 'Hey Chiyo, I want to talk to you if you want to'?"

"Are you stupid?! That's a terrible idea, there's no way she would want that!"

"W-Well, u-uhm… Maybe we should ask her how she's doing?"

"For fuck's sake… she's probably feeling like shit… that won't help…"

I didn't want to be rude now, but he wasn't helping at all…"

"Hana… If you have any idea now, just say it then…"

"...I-...."

"Then maybe, we should start by a 'I'm sorry', then ask her anything else"

To be honest, I don't have any plans, my idea was to send her a message and then hope it would work… BUt in this situation, even I am out of ideas. So just maybe…

"Fine, I'll start with a 'Hello Chiyo, I'm sorry for what happened', then what?"

"Umm… Maybe 'I'd like to sort things out'?"

"... O-Ok…"

We spent some minutes talking about how to write it, Kiyoshi occasionally taking my phone and writing on it, getting closer each time…

It became more difficult to actually focus on the message…

"Maybe… This will work…"

"U-Uhm… Y-Yes…" I looked at my phone one more time.

The message read: 'Hello Chiyo, I hope you're doing better. I'm truly sorry for what happened, I wish we could talk things out. I wish to be honest with you. If you want to, answer this message, if not, just ignore it. I'm sorry.'

It was a bit of a mess, but looking at Kiyoshi's baggy eyes and my 'stress', I don't think we'll find anything else to write…

"T-Then… I'll send it" 

"O-Okay…"

Kiyoshi grabbed my phone and sent the message, my hurt felt a bit heavier as I heard the notification of a text being sent via chat.

"And now… We wait…"

"..."

As we sat there, I didn't even ask Kiyoshi to hand me my phone back. I was really nervous, almost as nervous as the day on the train and on Chiyo's birthday… My heart felt the same way as that time…

Kiyoshi and I remained silent, the empty room feeling like a small prison cell where no sounds were being heard.

Time passed extremely fast… As if we were children having fun in a park, except we both remained still and stiff, waiting for nothing.

Trying to break this terrible feeling, I started cleaning the leftovers of my dinner.

"W-Well… I guess we'll have to wai-"

Without noticing, I spilled the small salt packet that was next to my plate.

"W-Wha-"

Kiyoshi looked at that same thing, having mixed feeling about it"

"I-I see… so you're having bad luck too…"

"W-What do you mean by that?"

"Today I had many incidents that can only be considered as… 'Bad omens'"

"D-Don't be stupid, those superstitions are not real…"

"T-Then explain this!"

He said as he raised his sleeve, showing that his arm was covered in bandages.

"A-After a black cat walked by me, I broke a mirror and Mitsuko-san activated her weird power, I got this cut from my arm… It's truly terrible! Maybe I haven't prayed to PBR-sama enough…"

I could simply look at him with an annoyed look, but deep down, I was a bit anxious.

Just then, I heard a sound.

 *BZZZZZZZ*

It came from my phone.

Kiyoshi grabbed it and looked at it. His eyes went wide.

"W-What is it?"

"... It's from Chiyo"

End of Hana's POV.

Kiyoshi's POV:

We both stood up and remained pretty still…

Our faces went pale as we read the text Chiyo sent…

'Hello. If you want to talk, come to my room. If you want to, bring Kiyoshi, I'll be waiting.'

It was spine chilling.

We both remained silent, but when I looked at Hana, her face showed something I never saw on her, true fear.

She was scared, probably of what was going to happen, or maybe of what to do in general.

"H-Hana-san"

I gently tried to touch her, to see if she was even alive, but she got away real soon…

"W-What should we do? I-I'm not ready to do this…"

"..."

I never saw her like this. She looks really vulnerable…

…

Wait… Have I never seen her like this? Maybe I had… 

When we were in the jailer's room, or maybe in my room when we…

I guess… This time I should act differently… Like a true man.

"Hana… I promise I'll be by your side now"

"W-What?" She said surprised

"I won't leave you alone… Let's go and talk to her, together…"

"..."

She just looked down to the floor, her hands trembled a bit while I tried to think of something else to say…

"... Fine… Let's do it…"

"...O-Okay…"

I grabbed my stuff and headed to the door-

"W-Wait!"

"H-Huh?!"

"... We should take them off…"

"..."

"...You have them on… right?"

"..."

Today was a pretty unlucky day… And even if they brought back bad memories… I thought… It wouldn't hurt no one… But does this mean… she has them on too?

"..."

"... F-Fine… D-Don't look…"

As we both faced opposite sides, I took Hana's panties off…

I gave a small glance at them.

"I'm done…"

"M-Me too" Hana's voice sounded a bit softer than usual.

I turned back to see her holding my briefs. We both looked a bit embarrassed by this.

For a second, I thought of giving them back to her… But she put my underwear on her backpack, so I did the same with her panties.

"...So… We're ready now?"

"I-I guess so…"

As we both left the room and headed to Chiyo's, we stared at the stars on this beautiful midnight, hoping this won't be another day to regret.

To be continued…

---