The Carnelian Sparrow

Chapter 14

Hands stuffed in skirt pockets, Yasu makes her way over to the warehouse on the other side of the pier. She was looking down at nothing in particular, a blank expression on her face. Knocking twice, she slid the door open before waiting for a reply. Rui was waiting for her, leaning on the inside wall just beside the door.

“So?” Rui’s voice was calm, yet as cold as it always was. Yasu stopped paying attention to her tone unless she felt she needed to diffuse a situation.

“Two more. Put up little resistance in the end, made the wishes you told me to make them make. Kyubey didn’t seem to care, either.” Yasu sighed. “Mizutani and Kawakami are under our umbrella now. -Your- umbrella,” Yasu added.

Rui simply nodded, showing no outward emotion. “Perfect. As I am now, not even the school can stop me. If I wanted to turn it upside down, there’s not a damn thing anyone could do.”

“…But you’re not done, are you, Rui?”

“No. Not even close. Come on, Yasu. Next on the list, Akari Fueki.”

Koharu Shirahara operated the Newspaper Club room with the most organized chaos known to man. Papers were scattered across several tables, with post boards behind her along the walls, several pictures tacked with string connecting them posted in a manner that only Koharu could truly follow. Whenever pressed about the meaning behind them, Koharu had no trouble explaining her meaning and methods, which helped Hanako and Shinju understand what they were writing about more clearly. But on a first glance, it was practically a language spoken by one and one alone.

On a particularly quiet Saturday, Koharu was gathering her notes, folders, whatever she needed to work from home after everyone else had left. Another routine, one Koharu didn’t take pleasure in, was the arrival of school staff to tell her to leave. As if she wasn’t already leaving. She had long suspected that the school’s staff wanted to give her a harder time than was warranted, but no one could ever prove it for certain. At least -one- of the counselors was tactful about it, Koharu often thought.

Sure enough, two quiet knocks signaled their arrival. A tall, blonde woman in a suit far beyond her status, and a dark haired woman a head shorter, wearing far more casual clothing than her position would suggest. “Hey there, Koharu! Mind if we come in?” It was the dark haired woman this time that spoke first. Good cop first this time, Koharu thought.

Without giving a reply, knowing that the pair would enter regardless of how Koharu answered, she simply continued gathering her things, not even looking up at the other voice speaking to her now. “School was out of session half an hour ago, Shirahara.”

“I’m aware. Room has a clock.” Koharu’s tone was as emotionless as ever, and this intrusion wasn’t enough to stop her from gathering. “Was just leaving. Have to work from home to make the deadline.”

“Ah, I see. Maybe we asked a bit too much of you?” The ‘good cop’ leaned down over the table once it was cleared of papers, shoved hastily into Koharu’s backpack. “You know, you could always get some other people to join your club.”

“Don’t need anyone else.” Koharu zipped up her backpack and finally looked up at the counselors. Good cop was wearing a warm expression, while the other woman was looking as harsh and cold as always. “Can I go now?”

“Well, we’re kind of glad to see you here, Shirahara. We wanted to talk to you about one article in the paper in particular.”

“Let me guess. Rui Tomatsu?”

The smaller counselor spoke up, interrupting and trying to diffuse the obvious tension that often came with her colleague’s confrontations with Koharu. “Erm, yeah, that bit. I mean, everyone in school knows what happened to your window, Koharu. Why bother trying to cast any doubt? You know what kind of person she is, right?”

“No evidence.”

Before the blonde woman could snap back, the dark haired woman continued, insisting on leading more with the good cop routine first. “W-Well, -no-, I suppose we don’t, not in a beyond reasonable doubt kinda sense.” Flashing a serious, warning look to her colleague, she returned to Koharu with a softer expression. “You don’t have to feel guilt over this, Koharu. I mean, there’s no other explanation for what happened to your window, right?”

“I won’t lie in my paper to make the staff feel better.”

This time, the blonde woman was faster than her companion. “Look. You know this is Tomatsu’s third strike, right? We know you’ve read into the school’s records. Even if we can’t -prove- it,” she added, flashing a knowing gaze towards her partner.

“Make your point.”

“Our point, Shirahara, is that you have a golden opportunity to place yourself in a position of trust with the staff here. On top of that, you would be doing us a colossal favor, getting rid of one of the biggest troublemakers that Mitakihara High School has ever seen. Just think about it.”

“You still want me to lie just to give you an easy out,” Koharu snapped back, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “Not how the world works. Nothing comes free, nothing comes easy. What I’m doing is finding the truth. Even if it isn’t convenient for you all. And I especially won’t lie to help in some personal vendetta you have against a child.”

Koharu stepped away from them, making for the door only to stop as the blonde woman spoke up. “Is this how you repay a favor? We never had to grant your request to run the school paper, you know. It sure wasn’t the local government’s prodding.”

Recognizing the threat, Koharu glanced back at the pair. “Are you sure it wasn’t fear? You know who my mother is. Or does the name Hikari Shirahara not sound familiar either?”

“Why you insolent little—”

“Careful. You know my club’s roster includes the daughter of Katsumi Sasaki, right? Threats like these don’t go unanswered.” Koharu waited for a reply that never came, so she left the room, calmly closing the door behind her. “…Why did I do that?” With a sigh, Koharu began walking towards the school’s exit. “Why did I have to involve Hanako in all this?”

A sharp whistle blew, cutting the crisp, late autumn air. A group of girls had lined up at the starting line, and took off from a three-point stance upon hearing the signal to start. Two girls immediately took a sizable lead. One with lavender hair, short and disheveled, and one with dark, midnight blue hair, long and straight down her back.

The dark haired girl was panting much more heavily than her rival, but she was keeping pace. The two were neck-and-neck for several lengths of the track, and the short-haired girl gave a passing, curious glance at the other girl. Before long, she had pulled ahead, and after crossing the finish line, stopped and placed her hands on her knees. “Whew! You almost caught me that time, Rui!”

The long haired girl, Rui Tomatsu, collapsed on the ground after crossing the finish line, struggling to catch her breath. “I… ugh… I -will- surpass you someday… Toi.”

Outstretching her hand, Toi Kanashimi helped Rui Tomatsu to her feet. “Don’t push yourself too hard out there! You’re only a first year, after all.” Looking around to make sure the coach wasn’t in earshot, Toi leaned in and lowered her voice. “If you keep making your asthma worse, they’re gonna catch you someday! You took a hit from your inhaler before this heat, right?”

Rui nodded, letting go of Toi’s hand as soon as she became vertical. “Yeah. You’re the only one that knows, right? Those dumbass coaches haven’t caught on?”

Shaking her head, Toi looked around again. “No one knows but us. And stop calling the coaches dumb, they’ll catch that one much more quickly than they’ll find your inhaler. Besides, it’s not a good look for a first year!”

“Psh. You’re one to talk.” Rui chuckled a little, a tiny smile lighting her face, mirroring the warmer one on Toi’s. “Well, whatever. I have time before the next race. I should warm up some more. Remember, you’re my only rival here. I have to take you down someday.”

“I’m looking forward to it!” Toi patted Rui on the shoulder and walked off, getting a bottle of water and failing to notice the fading of Rui’s smile.

This pattern would repeat for weeks. Toi and Rui would run neck-and-neck for the first half to two thirds of a given race or practice, and Toi would pull ahead at the last second. Rui’s endurance would improve naturally over time, but it was never enough to let her pull ahead in their competitions. Rui never showed any outward feelings of bitterness, and Toi remained a compassionate, encouraging rival.

But to say that bitterness didn’t exist at all, even Rui would never say for sure.

It was one fateful day, a very important meet that would put Mitakihara High School’s track team among the top ranking in all of Japan. Just a few minutes before the race, coaches and doctors were crowded around a girl crumpled on the floor of the locker room, clutching her left ankle as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I told you! I didn’t see who it was! I felt something hit the back of my head, then my leg, and the next thing I know I can’t stand up and I’m surrounded by no less than a dozen adults!”

A crowd of other track racers from other schools had gathered, and front of the pack was an expressionless Rui. Murmuring from the crowd muted and muffled the noises coming from the officials surrounding the injured girl, but two facts were clear: Toi’s ankle was broken, and it was obviously foul play. The whispers began to grow in volume, wondering just who it was that could have done this.

The obvious answer would have been a rival school, wanting to bury Mitakihara since no one could really hold a candle to Toi’s top times. That Tomatsu girl was a close second, but maybe they thought they could hold their own. “I mean, you see how that girl gets after each round, she’s practically hyperventilating!”

Rui’s eyes had remained firmly locked on Toi’s body, particularly her leg, but she still showed no outward emotion. Some time would pass, and speculation was running wild that Rui Tomatsu would have to carry Mitakihara High School to the top, but this would never come to pass. Before the final race, Rui was also nowhere to be seen.

“This is bullshit! You have no goddamn proof that I was even near Toi’s locker, let alone that I had anything to do with her injury!” Rui pounded the door frame she stood under, staring daggers at the two counselors in front of her. One was sitting at a desk, staring calmly yet coldly through strands of long, blonde hair at Rui. The other woman looked through a clipboard, her own, darker hair sat neatly along her back. “Besides, you pull me now, and this school’s never gonna reach the top! You want that interference on your records, Nagano? Huh?!”

The senior counselor stood up, palms slammed down on the desk. “Watch your tongue, Rui Tomatsu. The school will decide what the truth is, and who’s to blame for the wound to our reputation. In a few years, maybe someone will come along who can break Toi Kanashimi’s records. But right now, all the evidence we gathered at the scene points to you, including motive.”

“Motive?! Toi’s my friend, why the hell would I want to take her out like this?! I wanna beat her on the track, not in some back fucking alley! Come on, Sakurauchi, you believe me, don’t you?!”

The other woman stepped forward, looking up from her papers and spoke with a much calmer voice. “Rui, please calm down. If you truly didn’t commit this crime, the school won’t have any reason to punish you. We just have to go with the facts we found, that’s all. Please, have a little faith.”

“Faith? You both can go to hell with your faith.” Before either counselor could reply, Rui turned and started to leave. “You fuckers already made up your goddamn minds anyway.”

The school did make up its mind, in the end. Rui Tomatsu was removed from the track club, and was barred from competition in any school sports for the rest of her time as a student, though it was never quite clear if it was her attitude that led the staff to judge Rui this harshly, or if she really did break Toi’s ankle. Toi had never suspected Rui, but soon enough, her family would move away to another city, which left Rui alone and at the staff’s mercy.

“Koharu, calm down. I… I can’t really understand you, um… with all that wind in the background.” Hanako was laying on her bed, on her stomach. She was facing the unused television, phone in her left hand and held to her ear. A typical Sunday, minus the three way phone call.

“Call off your magic then,” Koharu muttered before speaking up. She was very clearly walking around outside. “I said I want to meet up somewhere. Lot to talk about. Maybe the park near the school? Maybe we just go to our club room anyway?”

“Whoa!” Shinju’s voice caused Hanako to temporarily remove the phone from her ear. “No way, man! We’re not breaking into the school on a Sunday!” Her voice noticeably quieted as she said that, perhaps to avoid her older sister overhearing. “Count me out!”

“We need to meet.” Koharu’s voice was beginning to rise, a sense of panic taking over. “Don’t understand. This is important. Really important. You don’t understand!”

The two continued to argue for awhile after that. Hanako shuddered a bit, her fog setting in over her mind and threatening to drown everything else out, until an idea broke through, piercing the veil. “W-Why not just… come over to my place for lunch? Mother has… been wanting to see you both, since… well… um…”

Koharu’s voice lowered, calmer breathing on the other end of the call. “Right. She wants to know we’re real. Good thinking.” The bluntness caused Hanako to jump again. It was exactly as Koharu said. Her mother knew she had friends now, and that she was doing better, but it would be another thing entirely to meet Koharu and Shinju in person. “We have privacy there?”

“Y… Yes. Mother never enters my room without permission, and the apartment walls are thick enough for both of my parents to have discreet conversations about their careers.”

“O~kay! Party at Hanako’s!” Shinju’s relief was equally clear in her voice. “Message me the directions and I’ll have ‘Haku bring me by!”

Rui cast her empty gaze over the newly formed Soul Gem in her hand, its owner’s body crumpled on the floor and curled up in a tight ball. She showed no emotion, only turning her head to gaze at the other girl sitting horrified nearby. “Okay, your turn.”

The girl shook her head, light brown hair swaying and shaking, covering the girl’s face. “Th-This… this can’t be real!”

“Come on, Takahata. I told you what to wish for. Now be a good girl and tell the nice kitty what your wish is. Or do you want Fueki here to suffer and fight those monsters it told you about all by herself?”

“Akari…” The trembling girl, Chiemi Takahata, gazed coldly up at Rui, then at Yasu, who stood behind her. She then looked at the creature standing at Rui’s side. It resembled a cat, but the eyes and tail told her otherwise. The fact that it could speak didn’t help. “F-Fine. I… don’t have a choice here, do I?”

“Attagirl. Yasu, I’ll leave the training and details up to you.” Taking Yasu’s silence as compliance, Rui placed Akari’s Soul Gem on her unconscious body, then turned and began to leave. “One more should do it. Niko Segawa, I think, would be the ideal target. Yeah… just one more should make me truly unstoppable.”

The doorbell rang, and as the door opened, Shinju gave a polite bow to the woman who answered. “Nice to meet you, Sasaki-san. I’m Shinju, and this is Koharu. We’re here to visit Hanako for lunch, uh… can we come in?” Shinju cast a wary gaze over at Koharu, who neither mimicked the action, nor said anything.

Smiling brightly, Hanako’s mother stood aside and invited the girls inside. “Oh, that’s right. Hanako just told me she was having friends over for lunch. Come in, come in!” Koharu entered right away, while Shinju had given another bow first, still staring at Koharu.

“Apologies, girls, but I’m afraid that Ren isn’t here to meet you today. He was called away on a last-second business trip. A pity, since he really wanted to meet you both. The way Hanako goes on and on.” A little chuckle escaped before she fluttered towards the dining room. It isn’t much, but I made some sandwiches and light salads for you all. You can eat in Hanako’s room, just make sure to knock first.

“Thank you, Sasaki-san!” Shinju stepped forward, taking both her plate and Hanako’s, leaving Koharu to take her own. “You didn’t have to go to the trouble, though!”

“Oh, you’re far too polite. Call me Katsumi, everyone else does. Please, don’t be afraid to make yourselves at home here.”

This time, Koharu did speak up, though only mumbling. “…It’s nice to meet you.” It looked like she wanted to say more, but decided against it.

“Likewise, Koharu. Now, pardon my rudeness, but I have important work to attend to.” As she said this, Koharu’s face sank a bit. “If either of you need anything, don’t hesitate to track me down, okay?” She knocked twice on Hanako’s door, then gave the girls a warm smile before turning to walk away.

Hanako’s door swiftly opened after, and she sheepishly took the spare plate from Shinju’s arm. “Ah… she really didn’t have to… um…” Shaking her head, she let Shinju and Koharu into her room. “…We have a lot to talk about, actually. I’m glad you both came here today.”

The autumn that fell a year after Toi’s injury and subsequent departure felt colder somehow. Snow hadn’t started falling yet, but the chill in the air was biting at a majority of the students of Mitakihara High. Everyone seemed to complain about it. Everyone, except for Rui Tomatsu.

She was looking down at the bruises on her hand, cursing under her breath that a first year student could actually put up a fight against her. Still, the freshman class was a large pool of targets this year, and Rui was scanning for her next victim.

Rui remembered the discipline meeting with the counselors from her fight with the first year named Arashi. The kid, naturally, got off with only a warning, especially after putting on a mask of false remorse. Rui, however, got the brunt of their ire.

“This is unacceptable behavior, Tomatsu. Or did you not learn a harsh enough lesson the last time we spoke like this?” The blonde counselor, Shinobu Nagano, looked as cold as she did when Toi’s ankle was broken, but her tone wasn’t nearly as harsh. “Picking fights is unbecoming of a second year student.”

“It’s unbecoming of anyone, really.” Yuna Sakurauchi, the dark haired counselor had naturally taken a much softer tone. “Rui, don’t you think there’s healthier outlets for your anger?”

Rui scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. “What. Like a sport or something?” Her words hit their mark, with both counselors recoiling. “You kind of took that away from me, remember?”

“Taking your frustrations out on your juniors is unacceptable, no matter what the circumstances. Besides, there’s nothing stopping you from joining an off campus, out of school organization.”

“Is there?” Rui’s eyes flashed with malice, staring into Counselor Nagano’s. “Because I’m pretty sure most of them look through your school records before admission. So unless you have another idea, I’m afraid I can’t help either of you.” She didn’t give them a chance to interrupt her this time. “Besides, you heard that punk Arashi. She started it. Or do you intend to punish me for -another- incident without proper proof?”

“Get out, Tomatsu. We’ll continue this conversation later.”

Rui held a smug satisfaction as time went by. She lost her only outlet, but the school couldn’t do anything beyond that. Without proof, if they school continued to press her, she could go to the media and at the very least prompt a proper investigation. Given how the counselors were reacting, Rui knew that this was something the school wanted to avoid. It couldn’t take another blow to its reputation after losing its prestige from dropping two rising track stars, after all.

But this did leave Rui in a difficult position. Her one wish, the one and only chance to get herself out of this predicament, and she had wasted it in an emotional impulse. She could’ve wished for anything. The removal of the staff, or her reinstatement on the track team. If only she had another wish, she often bemoaned. At least she didn’t waste it curing her asthma. She would discover rather quickly that she could heal herself with her new powers.

Weeks would go by. Rui would lay low, if only to calculate her next move. She had the school by the throat, but she could only push her luck so far. And her anger was continuing to build and boil over. She could only contain it for so long, and her Witch hunts weren’t really doing much to relieve the tension. Her next incident was a miscalculation as a result. She went too far, and Rui knew this by the next time she found herself in Shinobu’s office.

“…And don’t even try that ‘she started it’ line this time, Tomatsu! The doctors are telling us that Mei Tsukuda’s leg is going to need surgery, and that Seia Yamano lost her sight! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

Rui simply smiled, a sick, twisted expression lighting her face, but she remained silent.

“This is your second strike, Tomatsu. If you so much as step one foot out of line again, you will be expelled! Think about what -that- would do to your record and prospects, hm?”

Rui cast her gaze over towards Yuna, but she didn’t return the gesture, buried in her papers. Rui took this as a sign of her misstep. She would have to be more careful and guarded going forward. The rest of the meeting consisted of drowned out shouting from Shinobu, but Rui was too deep in her own head to hear her anymore.

All Rui needed was to lay low until she graduated. She just needed nothing to happen that the school could pin on her.

“So then, Shinju is one too, now. Perfect. Was tired of dodging the subject.” Koharu was sitting in a chair by Hanako’s bedroom window, which was closed with deep red curtains covering it.

Shinju was staring at the dust-covered television and let out a laugh. “Haha, lemme guess. ‘I didn’t ask’, right? Well, no worries! I don’t care about all that, I get it. But it really is nice to all be on the same page again!”

Hanako’s expression remained sour, however. “…So… what do we do now, then…? We were able to fend Tomatsu off this time, but… now that I’ve weakened, and she’s had time to recover…”

“Aw c’mon, Hanako. I dealt with people like her before. Ya beat up a bully, they stop coming after you. Not that I’ve gone quite as far as you have…” Shinju rubbed her head and kept her gaze on the TV. “Do you even use this thing? What kinda teenager isn’t glued to a TV, anyway?”

Ignoring the comment, Koharu interjected. “I disagree. Rui Tomatsu isn’t your run-of-the-mill bully. I doubt you dealt with Magical Girl bullies in your time, Shinju. Besides, I’ve been through her records. This girl’s the type to escalate.”

Hanako lowered her head, laying on her stomach once more. “…What do we do…?”

Shinju tapped her foot impatiently, almost trying to psychically will the television on. “What can we do? If she comes at us again, we just pound her face in again. But uh, maybe not do that thing you did last time, ‘kay?”

Koharu coughed once, possibly to interject again. “In any case, Rui Tomatsu isn’t our only problem. The higher ups are wanting us to lie in the paper again. Didn’t like how I covered the incident before.”

Hanako looked up, a mask of concern on her face. “Did they… give you a hard time about it? They didn’t make any threats… or anything like that?”

Shaking her head, Koharu sighed, looking away, trying to look out the curtain-covered window. “They did. Nothing direct. Just a lot of implied threats. The usual stuff.”

Koharu took the opportunity to build upon her thoughts by speaking them aloud to the others, to keep them in the loop. “Even if they shut down the paper, we have this room as our base of operations. We can’t stop here. We get the truth out even if the school tries to bury us for it.” There was a rare spark of passion in Koharu’s voice as she spoke.

“I-I don’t mind, of course. I mean… I don’t think we can meet -every- night, I do need my alone time… But if the school means to shut us down, then I have no reason to refuse activities here. Mother would certainly be happy with that.”

“We should meet here regardless. Staff will likely keep the club open as a ‘concession’ and monitor our meetings. We only discuss Rui here. Safer that way given how much this intersects the Magical Girl side of things.”

“Yeah.” Shinju sighed, giving up on Hanako’s TV for now. “That sounds exactly like what an authority high on power would do. Keep things running as a fake gift, but bug the place and watch it like a hawk. Mundane stuff at the club room, Rui stuff here, then?”

“Mm. I have no objections, Koharu. Shinju.” Hanako gave a little smile, letting the rare moment of normalcy set in. Sure, she was facing an uphill battle against a violent enemy, but for now, she had the prospect of friends coming to hang out, something she had never known before. Her only other friend before this was a long distance contact through a game, after all. “How did you get them to let you go today though, Koharu? If they really were that… pressuring about all this.”

“Ah, well. About that.” Koharu shuffled nervously in her seat. “They let me go after I dropped my mother’s name.” She hesitated for a solid minute before mumbling, “…And yours.”

Before Hanako can react, two knocks came upon Hanako’s bedroom door, and Katsumi was waiting in the crack that formed upon the door being pushed ajar. “Oh? School giving you a hard time, Koharu? Leave that to me.”

Koharu immediately turned to stare at Katsumi, taken aback by the sudden feeling of justice. Hanako, however, had gone pale, wondering just how much her mother had overheard, but Katsumi didn’t give her room to respond here, either. “I take on pro bono cases all the time, and to be honest, I have my own history with some of those guys that work there. Tell me, is Shinobu Nagano still Head Counselor over at Mitakihara High School?”

Yasu never particularly cared for what Rui asked her to do this time. She knew better than to try and talk Rui down, her rage was too far out of control. But she couldn’t condone this, either. Five new Magical Girls, all of whom made wishes that benefited or empowered Rui? This was too much.

Of course, Yasu knew what the school had done to Rui over the years, despite only being a first year student herself. It was this knowledge that brought Yasu to ally herself with Rui in the first place. The staff hadn’t bothered her in the same way they did Rui, but she never could shake the feeling of animosity from the higher ups, either.

To top it off, Yasu couldn’t remember what she herself wished for. As far as she knew, vague memories of a childhood led up to Yasu awakening one day to strange powers and a life fighting Witches. But she never could let go of feelings of hostility and persecution from those around her. From everyone, except for Rui.

Walking away from the abandoned building where Akari and Chiemi contracted, Yasu pulled out her phone, dialing the one number saved within. “Come on…” But after ringing for a minute or so, the call went to Rui’s voicemail, a generic, robotic voice informing Yasu that the call wasn’t answered.

She hung up, pocketing her phone and making her way towards the rendezvous agreed upon. If anything ever went south, Rui told Yasu to meet up at the school’s track. It was an odd place, Yasu thought, but poetic for Rui. Planning the downfall of Counselors Nagano and Sakurauchi in the place where Rui was framed in the first place was a nice sense of ironic justice.

It was a quiet, uneventful walk, but Yasu wasn’t prepared for the sight that awaited her upon slipping into the school grounds and making for the field. Her eyes widened as she caught the sight right away. Lying in a deep, crimson pool, Rui Tomatsu’s lifeless body lay, already pale and stiff.