The dreaded day when Kareyoshi brought in her parents was here. Noriko knew that what was at stake was far more serious than the thought that kept nagging at her mind. Still, that tiny thought never left her. 'What about Christmas? I can't see him during Christmas.' It was a small minded thought, selfish, girlish and utterly unworthy of her.
They were gathered in the principal's office. He, seated behind his desk, her parents sitting in chairs facing him, and the four of them standing at attention behind her parents.
She stared at her father's back. 'He's going to be so angry, and mom, are you disappointed in me?' It was going to start any second now.
"Welcome Wakayama-san. I'm sorry we had to call you here on such short notice." Noriko noted how Kareyoshi only talked to her father. It was as if her mother was an insignificant accessory to her husband. 'Urufu, I understand now. I wished I had listened to you earlier.'
"Yes, we're sorry as well. Both of us."
'What was that?' Noriko chanced a glance at Urufu. Yes, there was a knowing smile there, so she had heard a sharp edge in her father's reply.
"I'm sorry to inform you that both of your children are having improper relations." Apparently Kareyoshi wasn't as perceptive, because nothing in his words showed that he had noticed the coldness in her father's voice.
"You're sorry? Is that so?"
As to confirm what she suspected, it was Noriko's mother, not her father, who turned and faced Ryu. "Son, for how long?"
"We've been together since spring term," Ryu answered.
The following silence told all of them that the answer had been insufficient.
"She's asking how long we've been improperly together, stupid," Kuri answered in his stead." Then she faced Noriko's mother directly. "I've loved your son with my heart for more than half a year, and with my body for four months."
'Gods, she'll explode!'
"Is that so? What would you know about love?"
The two women locked eyes.
'Kuri's ten years older than mother. She probably knows more than mother, but I can't tell anyone that Kuri isn't a teenager.' Then something in how the two women exchanged stares told Noriko that, somehow, her mother knew anyway, and understood.
"After graduation I'm willing to prove it to you. Both of you," Kuri let go of her stare and looked at Ryu instead. "If you want to."
'Did she just propose?'
Ryu blushed like an idiot and nodded numbly. 'Oh yeah, she did.' Then Noriko felt herself blushing as well. 'Gods, and he just accepted!'
Still facing Kuri and Ryu, Noriko's mother smiled warmly. "You might want to keep that promise a secret. Or… are you as bold as to..."
"Wear a ring of betrothal?" Kuri said. "I love him, I'll show that love as long as he agrees to it."
Closest to the window Kareyoshi fidgeted. It was clear the meeting hadn't gone in the direction he had anticipated.
And then it was her father's time to turn. Noriko stared into his dark eyes, waiting for the inevitable question. It was one thing for a son to have a sexual relation with someone, but she was their daughter.
'We actually haven't, yet,' she thought before the question came. 'But not because I don't want to,' she admitted to herself.
"Noriko?"
"Not yet," she blurted out before she could stop herself. Her legs gave way when she realised what she had said. After that she felt herself sitting on the floor in shame.
"We've been a pair for a few months only," Urufu said as he reached down to help her up on her feet again. "I fear the esteemed principal may have jumped to conclusions."
Urufu and her father exchanged glances. 'There's something fishy going on here.'
"What made you arrive at that thought?"
"He probably had too much on his mind to think things through. After all he doesn't have all that much experience with an occupation entailing this kind of responsibility."
Kareyoshi's face was deep red with rage. "How dare you?"
Urufu continued as if he hadn't heard anything: "Siphoning funds must have cost him some of his attention. Finding the right people who would rape your daughter for money probably required the rest of his competence."
"Shut up you insolent..."
"When he tried to bribe her parents to silence, he clearly left his limited amount of competence far behind him," Urufu finished as if he and her father had been silently sipping a cup of coffee each. He turned to her. "I love you. I'm happy to wait."
'He didn't propose. I'm disappointed. I'm happy he's not as scatter-brained as those two. I'm still disappointed. He's a grown man, and I'm only a child in his eyes.'
"Now, mister Kareyoshi," both her parents were facing the principal. "I and my wife both have a background in this school. If you had cared to make your homework properly you would have found out that we were fairly famous." Her father looked at her mother to invite her to continue.
"Legendary would probably be more apt," she continued. "We haven't acted until now, because I had to make certain that no school..."
"…would ever accept you as part of their staff..."
"...and that we would feel safe knowing that you would face a very, very long..."
"...and extremely humiliating..."
"...prison sentence."
"You don't have any evidence!"
"Damn!" her father swore and reached for his wallet.
"Told you so," Urufu grinned and accepted the offered coin.
"That's an unprecedented low-score as far as competence goes..."
"...which warrants the full thousand yen of your bet," her mother finished, the last few words pointedly directed at her father who dug out another coin.
Noriko shook her head. 'What's going on?'